South Africa's fiscal debt to GDP expected to peak at 77%
This is higher than previous projections when debt to GDP was estimated to peak at 76% during the previous budgets, making it the highest ever.
Debt Money
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s fiscal debt to GDP is expected to peak at 77% this year, as the government continues to battle to get public debt under control.
The alarming debt figure was announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana while tabling the May budget at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
This is higher than previous projections when debt to GDP was estimated to peak at 76% during the previous budgets, making it the highest ever.
Godongwana said the latest revision was partly due to the impact global trade tensions are likely to have on South Africa’s growth forecast.
While Godongwana denies the government is losing the war against public debt, he admits it also cannot be downplayed.
“Debt service costs remain high, amounting to more than R1.3 trillion over the next three years. Put differently, this means in 2025/26 alone, we are spending around R1.2 billion per day to service our debt. We must agree this is unacceptable. This is more than what we spend on frontline services such as health, the police and basic education.”
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