Riyaz Patel
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni plans to slash expenditure by at least R150bn over the next three years as part of his strategy to stabilise public finances.
Releasing the 2019 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament Wednesday, the minister indicated that the “sweet spot” for stabilizing the country’s finances would involve expenditure cuts of closer to R240bn over the period, which, he said would be difficult to achieve.
Mboweni said the significant tax increases over the past several years has only moderately boosted tax revenue, and given the size of the required adjustment, “additional tax measures are under consideration.”
“Our problem is that we spend more than we earn. It is as simple as that.”
Mboweni told MPs the expenditure cuts were outweighed by the need to ensure sustainable public finances while ensuring intergenerational fairness.
To stabilise debt, government would target a primary balance, excluding proposed further fiscal support
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