When Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan ascends the podium on Wednesday he will be under immense pressure, with the fate of the country's economic wellbeing cradled in his experienced hands.If he fluffs his lines during the Budget speech and fails to kick-start the admittedly arduous process of winning back investor confidence, economists say the country is at risk of having its economy downgraded to "junk" status - a fate that would result in a further deterioration of the rand's value, increased interest rates and "capital flight".Gordhan conceded in Durban last weekend that the economy was "much stronger" when he was finance minister two years ago.It is, without doubt, the most important Budget speech since 1994, said political analyst Daniel Silke."It comes at a time when the South African economy has its back to the wall, especially in respect to economic growth and, in particular, the potential ratings downgrade that would affect a host of other issues," said Silke.The speech is important politically in light of the "debacle" around President Jacob Zuma's controversial dismissal of Nhlanhla Nene late last year, Silke said."It comes in the era of a weakened president [who] has deferred to Gordhan to call the shots."There's the unusual situation in which the severity of the economy's problems and the decline in [Zuma's] personal political fortunes in the ANC come together in the Budget," he said.Gordhan seemed to appreciate the tough task facing him.Speaking in Durban last weekend at the 90th anniversary celebration of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha SA, Gordhan said the country was still struggling in the wake of the global recession in 2008 - and that the "negative sentiment" towards emerging markets, such as South Africa, was not helping.Interest being paid on government debt, he said, had risen from between R30-billion and R40-billion to "about R140-billion".This would have an impact on government services and infrastructure spending."When you pay higher amounts of interest you have to squeeze your expenditure," said Gordhan."We might go through a very tough time," he said.Gordhan also hinted that Eskom could soon have some competition."We have Eskom as a monopoly - it's a state monopoly, but it's a monopoly. It can determine the price of the electricity we use this evening."It needs competition to wake up management so they begin to run the organisation in an effective way," he said.For economist Azar Jammine, state-owned entities must feature high on Gordhan's agenda if investor confidence is to be restored."If we don't put those under better control you're going to see the government having to carry enormous liabilities," he said...