Treasury working hard to remove SA off grey list by early 2025, Godongwana assures Parly

CAPE TOWN - Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has given Parliament another assurance the National Treasury is hard at work to have South Africa removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s grey list by early 2025.

South Africa was penalised by the global anti-corruption watchdog in 2023 for not having adequate measures in place to prevent money laundering and terror financing.

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Presenting the National Treasury’s budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Godongwana said the fiscal strategy remains to reduce the budget deficit and stabilising government debt.

With the public purse under strain since 2012, the finance minister said National Treasury is on track to narrow the deficit to 3.4% of GDP by 2026/27.

“The department will continue with the implementation of a credible fiscal framework to meet government’s revenue requirements, and the promotion of a fair tax system. This will entail having a balanced, declining tax revenue with increasing government spending priorities.”

Godongwana said poor-performing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), particularly during the state capture years, have had a grave impact on economic growth.

“Those institutions suffered a great deal, and the result is that more resources were pumped into them. During that period R520 billion was pumped into state-owned enterprises in the form of bailouts.”