Where to watch the new 2025 Budget Speech live
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will deliver the revised 2025 budget speech on Wednesday (12 March) at 14h00.
The budget speech can be viewed through several channels, including TV services like DStv (channel 408), news channels, and live-streaming sources like YouTube.
You can watch the Budget Speech from the following sources:
The government noted that the speech would be live-streamed on its X page and Facebook, in addition to Parliament’s YouTube channel.
The speech can also be streamed below:
As Enoch Godongwana prepares to deliver his annual budget speech, investors will also look to him to expedite reforms needed to revive economic growth while stabilising the nation’s precarious finances.
However, with rising debt, a suspended US aid package, and tough decisions between tax hikes or spending cuts, the latest budget speech is one of the most crucial in years.
Following the historic postponement of the first budget in February, Standard Bank noted that investors are very focused on the durability and efficacy of the government of national unity (GNU).
“They’d view any further disruptions to the budget process as an indication that the GNU isn’t working very well, which would reduce their expectations regarding growth and fiscal reforms,” the bank said.
The main issue with the original budget was a proposed two-percentage-point increase in the value-added tax rate to 17%. Since then, the focus has been getting the coalition to agree to a compromise formulation.
The VAT increase proposed by the Treasury in the abandoned budget would have raised R60 billion in the fiscal year that begins on 1 April.
In the latest plan, a compromise would be to lift VAT by 0.5 to 1 percentage point and increase spending more moderately than previously proposed.
However, recent reports indicate that parties within the GNU are still opposed to any VAT hike, with some economists highlighting that the increase would also stoke inflation and increase the risk to interest rates.
Additionally, other political parties, such as the MK Party, have threatened nationwide protests if any hike in VAT is budgeted for.
However, while several economists still expect a VAT hike, this is not likely to be at the originally proposed 2%pts, which means that there will be other trade-offs.
Apart from VAT, Nedbank economists expect several amendments to other taxes compared to the original budget. Some of these taxes forecasted to see changes include personal income tax, fuel levies, and sin taxes.
The original budget planned minor tax bracket adjustments for taxpayer relief, aiming for R1.5 billion in revenue. However, with the VAT plan scrapped, the Treasury is likely to keep the tax brackets unchanged for 2025, leading to increased revenue.
The fuel levy and Road Accident Fund levy have been frozen since 2022, and the original budget wanted to continue this for another year. However, Nedbank’s economists now anticipate hikes to these taxes.
Excise duties on alcohol and tobacco were already well above inflation in the original budget, and economists now expect them to be even higher.
While these revenue adjustments will be a point of interest, Nedbank said there will need to be evidence of what will be done on the expenditure side to balance it out.
The bank’s economists said that, despite the Treasury’s calls for fiscal consolidation over the years, the government has been unable to contain the rapid increase in public debt and spending.
“For over a decade, expenditure has outpaced revenue growth, resulting in wide budget deficits and an ever-rising public debt ratio.
“The time to tackle expenditure inefficiencies seriously is now.”
Although other economists share the same concern over expenditure, they expect some positives to come through.
Mpho Molopyane, chief economist at Alexforbes, expects the budget to support the coalition government’s commitment to building a capable state and promoting economic growth.
“But they will have to walk back some of the expenditure commitments or expenditure plans which they had allowed in this now-postponed budget,” she said.
“How much they then walk back on the revenue side will depend on how much they can reprioritise on the expenditure side.”
“One hopes that a compromise budget will be announced and passed, or South Africa’s risk profile will take an even larger beating,” ETM Analytics said in a research note.
“Investors will have no choice but to position themselves in a higher-risk environment ahead that will undermine the rand’s performance,” the note added.
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