Enoch Godongwana, South Africa's finance minister, during an interview following the mid-term budget in Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. South Africa is hiring an independent contractor to advise on conditions it should attach to debt relief for state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., Godongwana said. Photographer: Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg There’s “tremendous strain on the financial resources we have available to address our most urgent service delivery priorities,” said Godongwana, who is due to deliver a budget update on Nov. 1. “We have faced similar challenges in the past and managed to make the necessary policy decisions and trade-offs to navigate the storm.”
The National Treasury has already signaled to government departments that they will need to pare back spending if it is to meet its debt-stabilization targets. Expenditure cuts will come at a difficult time for the ruling African National Congress, which is gearing up for elections next year and is at risk of losing its national majority for the first time since it took power in 1994.
Investors have turned less positive on the nation’s debt on worries over the potential for a bigger budget deficit, according to a survey by Bank of America Corp. The Treasury reported a record monthly shortfall of 143.8 billion rand ($7.6 billion) for July.
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Edgar Sishi, the head of the Treasury’s budget office, said there was little scope to raise taxes because South African rates were already uncompetitive and other options needed to be considered to stabilize the state’s finances.
“Investment and growth are too low for meaningful job creation and reducing inequality,” he told the conference in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg. “Public financial management should incentivize and support the ability of the broader economy to invest and grow, not the other way around.”
It was imperative that the government hold individuals and entities accountable for financial misconduct, Godongwana said.
“Without swift and fitting consequences, we risk eroding public trust in our capacity to manage public funds effectively, with less and less funding available to deliver much-needed services to our people,” he said.