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MTBPS Tabled In Parliament, AGOA Forum Begins In Jo'burg

SOUTH AFRICA
  • Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana used his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to announce a combination of spending cuts, increased borrowing and tax hikes to address the widening fiscal shortfall. Godongwana noted that "the main budget deficit has increased by ZAR54.7 billion compared with the 2023 budget estimates" amid "lower revenue performance, higher wage bill costs and higher projected debt-service costs". In order to address this, the government will announce tax hikes to the tune of ZAR15bn as part of the February budget, roll out some targeted cost-cutting measures and ramp up borrowing despite the blowout burden of debt-servicing.
  • The Daily Maverick reports that South African officials are "cautiously optimistic" that Pretoria will be able to keep its preferential trade status with the US as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum begins in Johannesburg today. South Africa is reportedly looking to boost duty-free exports to the US under AGOA, which could help fix the country's fiscal troubles, while shuttle diplomacy helped mitigate pressures from US business lobbies and contain the fallout from diplomatic tensions. The AGOA Forum will not decide whether to extend AGOA, but will issue a recommendation to the US Congress on whether the trade deal should continue.
  • South Africa will report September electricity production and consumption data at 11:00GMT/13:00SAST.

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