Finance minister Pravin Gordhan's medium-term budget policy statement to be delivered on Wednesday will be a juggling act in which he has to stick to spending commitments, factor in new demands, and curb spending - all while revenue is likely to be under pressure. Economists are expecting Gordhan to demonstrate a tight path of fiscal consolidation - reducing the government's debt - which could reassure international ratings agencies that will later this year review and possibly downgrade the country's sovereign credit rating. But weaker economic growth has increased the risk that the headline budget deficit - the gap between revenue and spending - for the 2016-17 fiscal year may be slightly higher at -3.4% of GDP instead of the -3.2% Gordhan forecast when he delivered the main budget in February, analysts said this week. The international benchmark for budget deficits is 3% of GDP. South Africa's budget deficit is projected to decline to 2.8% in 2017-18 and 2.4% in the year thereaft...
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