HILARY JOFFE: Mboweni unfolds a road map - but now it must be followed
01 March 2020 - 00:00
It was a refrain in the budget review and again in the budget speech: budgets are complex but the numbers are simple. And the numbers were grim - even though it was a bold budget. Finance minister Tito Mboweni did what was right fiscally, pencilling in deep cuts to the personnel budget and calling a halt to major tax hikes. But even if the pay cuts pan out politically, the budget deficit heads towards a psychologically scary 7% and the public debt heads towards 71% and keeps climbing. If there are zero cuts, the deficit gets closer to 8%...
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