Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is expected to deliver his budget speech at 14:00 on 24 February.
Gordhan faces the unenviable task of trying to solve South Africa’s economic issues by balancing the country’s expected revenue shortfall with solutions that won’t cause mass public protest.
Economists expect a number of austerity measures to be put forward, including pushing the cap on government spending that was introduced during former minister Nhlanhla Nene’s tenure, as well as introducing further taxes.
While a VAT hike has been put on the table, most analysts expect that government will rather opt for taxes on the wealthy – such as pushing taxes past 41% for top earners, and bringing tighter exchange controls on wealth kept overseas.
South Africa faces other problems that need to be addressed, such as rising government debt and spending, the looming junk status downgrade, slowing economic growth, and a drop in tax revenue.
Various news outlets will be streaming the event live:
The eNCA live stream has been embedded below
