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Budget News

Mboweni: Private pensions should also be used to help cut Eskom's debt

By: News24Wire 27th February 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday that a Congress of South African Trade Unions proposal to transfer some of Eskom's debt to State-asset manager the Public Investment Corporation, which manages civil servant pensions, is a "good idea", adding that all pensions - not just public... →

South African budget highlights scale of fiscal deterioration – Fitch

By: African News Agency 27th February 2020 South Africa's 2020 budget review highlights the severe deterioration underway in public finances and the long-term policy challenge of stabilising government debt, ratings agency Fitch said. Fitch, which like S&P Global has downgraded South Africa's credit standing to sub-investment grade, said... →

National budget funds major science, technology and higher education projects

By: Rebecca Campbell 27th February 2020 Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Dr Blade Nzimande has welcomed the allocations made to his departments (Higher Education and Training, and Science and Innovation) in the 2020 national budget. The budget assigns R396-billion to the two departments. Two major initiatives are being... →

Photo by Donna Slater/Creamer Media
Dr Blade Nzimande

Minerals Council CEO says Mboweni is on the right path

By: African News Agency 27th February 2020 The Minerals Council South Africa on Wednesday said it believed Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has taken important steps to address South Africa’s economic crisis, building on the direction from President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address two weeks ago. “But it is just the... →

2020 Budget Speech

27th February 2020 Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about highlights from Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s 2020 Budget Speech and whether enough has been done to stave off a downgrade to junk status by Moody’s. →

2020 Budget Speech

Cranes, construction equipment to become everyday sight across South Africa

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 Over the next three years, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will package blended finance megaprojects of at least R200-billion, while government has committed R10-billion for such projects over the same period. Capital spending is the fastest-growing component of non-interest... →

Govt working on environmental fiscal reform paper, as carbon tax increases 5.6%

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 The National Treasury on Wednesday confirmed that government was preparing to publish an environmental fiscal reform review paper. The paper will explore the potential for new environmental taxes and reforms to existing instruments, such as restructuring the general fuel levy to include a local... →

Contingent liabilities set to rise to R980bn

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 Contingent liabilities, which are mainly guarantees to State-owned companies (SOCs) are projected to reach R979.9-billion on March 31, 2020. According to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who tabled the 2020 National Budget, in Parliament, on Wednesday, government’s “long record of prudent debt... →

Treasury commits R157m to Jobs Fund projects

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 A total of R157-million has been committed to projects within South Africa’s Jobs Fund in this year’s National Budget, which was delivered by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday. However, the Jobs Fund requested that the R157-million only be released at a later stage, when the funds are... →

South Africa to establish sovereign wealth fund, State bank

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday announced the formation of the South African Sovereign Wealth Fund, which would target a capital amount of about R30-billion. Given the legal, administrative and procedural issues involved, Mboweni said that a relevant Bill first had to clear... →

Mboweni homes in on wage bill as he holds R156bn expenditure-reduction line

By: Terence Creamer 26th February 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni stuck doggedly to the expenditure-reduction framework first outlined in October, announcing cuts of R156-billion relative to the 2019 Budget baseline for the coming three years, a sizeable portion of which would be derived from cuts to the public-sector wage bill.... →

Photo by Bloomberg
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Strengthening Sars ‘will take time’, says Mboweni

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 Strengthening the South African Revenue Service will remain one of government’s top priorities for this year. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni emphasised that building a capable State that serves South Africa, is “integrally linked to the success of Sars”. To achieve this, Mboweni said the new Sars... →

R16.4bn allocated to cover SAA’s debt and debt costs

By: Terence Creamer 26th February 2020 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced on Wednesday that R16.4-billion would be allocated to South African Airways over the medium term to “repay the airline’s guaranteed debt and to cover debt-service costs”. Speaking to lawmakers, Mboweni said the “SAA Sword of Damocles has now fallen on us”,... →

Private electricity generation identified as most urgent structural reform for reigniting growth

By: Simone Liedtke 26th February 2020 With a weak economic outlook characterised by a real gross domestic product that is expected to grow at 0.9% in 2020, 1.3% in 2021 and 1.6% in 2022, South Africa is in dire need of far-reaching structural reforms to achieve faster economic growth. In contrast, global economic growth is expected... →

Cosatu: We will collapse the public service if wages are reviewed

By: News24Wire 26th February 2020 The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has threatened to strike and "collapse" the public service if government does not honour the current public service wage agreement, Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla told Fin24 on Wednesday. The agreement is non-negotiable and any attempt... →

Nehawu says govt wants to review public sector wage deal

By: Reuters 26th February 2020 South African public sector union the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) said on Wednesday that the government wanted to review a three-year wage deal with public sector workers struck in 2018, calling the move "a declaration of war". Nehawu said in a statement that if... →

Time for govt to consider new strategies to get economic growth going, says Baxter

By: Marleny Arnoldi 21st February 2020 In what has been the longest economic downturn for the country since 1945, it has become necessary for government to consider alternative strategies and change various policies to allow business to grow the economy, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter said during a media briefing on... →

Minerals Council CEO Roger Baxter discusses the mining industry's contribution to the economy and what measures the council hopes will be announced in the upcoming National Budget to boost South Africa's economic growth. Video: Kutlwano Matlala; Editing: Nicholas Boyd.

Ahead of Budget speech, Deloitte says Mboweni faces ‘mammoth task’

By: Simone Liedtke 18th February 2020 Taking South Africa’s weak fiscal position and the scrutiny of ratings agencies into account, along with the country’s deteriorating economic outlook and the negative impact thereof on revenue collections, multinational auditing firm Deloitte says that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni “has a mammoth... →

SoNA came at ‘crucial time’ says panel

By: Simone Liedtke 14th February 2020 The 2020 State of the Nation Address (SoNA) came at “a crucial time” for South Africa, which is faced with a stagnated economy defined by challenges such as lack of capacity in State-owned enterprises (SOEs), high unemployment and electricity supply constraints, a panel agreed on Friday morning... →

Seifsa, Minerals Council react positively to SoNA commitments

By: Marleny Arnoldi 14th February 2020 The mining and metals and engineering sectors have mostly welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans around energy and infrastructure, following his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday night. The Minerals Council South Africa said in a statement that it was encouraged by the... →

SA Mint commemorates ‘renewal’ in 2020

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd February 2020 This year, the South African Mint (SA Mint) will commemorate the Chinese horoscope’s sentiment for 2020, aligning the designs of some of its prized collectable coins with “The Year of the Metal Rat”. The horoscope considers 2020 a year of new beginnings and renewal. →

Some of SA Mint's coins for 2020

Mboweni wants your tips on how to grow the economy

By: News24Wire 20th January 2020 Finance minister Tito Mboweni has asked South Africans to send him their ideas on how to grow the country's ailing economy. Mboweni will deliver the 2020 national budget speech on February 26 and would like the public's views on the following question: What can government do to achieve faster... →

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Gauteng budget boosted by prior year rollovers, but medium-term spend remains tight

By: Marleny Arnoldi 26th November 2019 The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has revised its expenditure for the 2019/20 financial year ending March 31, 2020, upwards by R443-million, increasing the yearly provincial budget to R132-billion. This is owing to unspent or reallocated rollover funds from 2018/19, Gauteng Finance MEC... →

Remediation announced following LCCP review

22nd November 2019 With the capital cost of the Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP) in May forecasted as $12.9-billion, as opposed to the initial $12.6-billion forecast in February, Petrochemical producer Sasol’s board of directors commissioned an independent review to track the reasons behind the change in costs. →

WHAT A VIEW In May, Sasol re-evaluated and set out the principal factors that had resulted in an increase in the Lake Charles Chemical Project capital cost guidance

Raising taxes won't help the fiscus, parliament hears

By: News24Wire 5th November 2019 Further tax hikes will not be helpful in raising revenue, as intended, the Financial Fiscal Commission warned. The commission, which is a constitutional body that advises all organs of state on economic, financial and fiscal matters, on Tuesday briefed Parliament's committees in finance and... →

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

R110m for refurbishments to MPs' houses and R540m for improvements at Parliament

By: News24Wire 31st October 2019 After spending almost three-quarters of a billion rand on the three parliamentary villages, its upkeep and transport the past 10 years, the Department of Public Works is planning another project, worth R110-million, to refurbish houses for MPs. The department is also planning to demolish and... →

SA’s fiscal risks rise

30th October 2019 Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the deterioration in South Africa’s public finances, what Tito Mboweni said in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) about Eskom and whether the MTBPS is enough to prevent South Africa’s rating from... →

Saville stresses importance of this year’s MTBPS

By: Marleny Arnoldi 28th October 2019 Cannon Asset Managers founder and CEO Dr Adrian Saville believes the upcoming Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) might be the most important one for South Africa yet. With a resurgence of load-shedding, crisis-level unemployment rates and economic growth teetering between 0% and 1%,... →

Gauteng budget spend reaches 97% average

By: Natasha Odendaal 4th October 2019 The Gauteng departments of Health, Education and Infrastructure Development have driven the Gauteng Provincial Government’s collective 97% spend of its total adjusted budget for the 2018/19 financial year. Aggregately, the province spent R119.5-billion of its R122-billion budget for the year,... →

Mboweni postpones mini budget by a week

By: News24Wire 19th September 2019 Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni will this year present his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on October 30, about a week later than is the norm. National Treasury and the chairperson of the Parliament's standing committee on finance, Joseph Maswanganyi, confirmed the date to Fin24 on... →

Photo by Reuters
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

Group Five business rescue plan published

By: Simone Liedtke 2nd September 2019 The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for embattled construction company Group Five Construction (G5 Construction), Dave Lake and Peter van den Steen, have released the business rescue plans for the company and for Group Five Limited. Voting on the business rescue plans for both entities will... →

Crucial policy missteps have taken place – Ramaphosa

By: Sane Dhlamini 23rd July 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that, while South Africa has come a long way 25 years into democracy, there have been crucial policy missteps, and he admitted that government has, at times, failed to implement coherent policy or delayed doing so. He was addressing delegates at the 25... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa address the 25 Years of Democracy Conference. (Camera & editing: Nicholas Boyd)

Repo rate cut welcomed

By: Sane Dhlamini 18th July 2019 Black Business Council (BBC) CEO Kganki Matabane on Thursday welcomed the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.5% from 6.75%. Matabane said the committee’s decision to decrease the repo rate will bring much needed... →

BBC welcomes financial support for Black Industrialists Programme

By: Nadine James 16th July 2019 The Black Business Council (BBC) has welcomed the announcement that R40-billion in financial support will be made available for the Black Industrialists Programme over five years. “To enhance the growth of black industrialists, we will combine the efforts of the Department of Trade, Industry and... →

Climate change takes priority in Creecy’s budget vote debate

By: Nadine James 12th July 2019 Newly appointed Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy delivered her R7.5-billion budget vote statement in the National Assembly on Thursday, emphasising the socioeconomic threat of climate change, as more than two-million South Africans are directly dependent on the... →

Mozambique’s GDP growth to fall to below 3% following Idai

By: Marleny Arnoldi 17th May 2019 The Mozambican government has estimated its emergency assistance needs and reconstruction costs following cyclone Idai, in March, will reach $1.5-billion, or about 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report, compiled information around the... →

Political parties agree on need for business, government collaboration

By: Marleny Arnoldi 12th April 2019 One cannot develop South Africa with a blanket approach, without consultation and discussion and these interactions should not be confined to the election season only, Inkatha Freedom Party MP Mhuleko Hlengwa asserted during a Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa... →

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