Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is expected to deliver his budget speech at 14h00 today (24 February) – this is where you can tune in.<\/p>\n
Gordhan faces the unenviable task of trying to solve South Africa’s economic issues by balancing the country’s expected revenue shortfall with solutions that won’t cause mass public protest.<\/p>\n
Economists expect a number of austerity measures to be put forward, including pushing the cap on government spending that was introduced during former minister Nhlanhla Nene’s tenure, as well as introducing further taxes.<\/p>\n
While a VAT hike has been put on the table, most analysts expect that government will rather opt for taxes on the wealthy – such as pushing taxes past 41% for top earners, and bringing tighter exchange controls on wealth kept overseas.<\/p>\n
South Africa faces other problems that need to be addressed, such as\u00a0rising government debt and spending, the looming junk status downgrade, slowing economic growth, and a drop in tax revenue.<\/p>\n
Various news outlets will be streaming the event live, including eNCA, the SABC and radio live streams.<\/p>\n