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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will present the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.
The statement, also known as the medium-term budget or mini budget (a description that the finance minister does not like to use) provides a review of state spending between April and September, setting the stage for the main budget in February. It also provides an overview of key spending plans for the state over the next three years, provides an update on tax revenue collection and what the Treasury expects from the South African economy.
While new spending plans, such as tax increases, are generally not announced during the medium-term budget, Mboweni may announce ‘adjustments’ to the main budget allocations early in the year.
This year, all eyes will be on what the finance minister says about the embattled state airline SAA, which still needs just over R10 billion in funding to get its long-delayed rescue plan off the ground.
Mboweni is also expected to speak about cuts in public spending, particularly in the salaries of civil servants. Economists will be watching closely what it says about SA’s growing sovereign debt and a projected sharp drop in tax collection in light of the pandemic and the Covid-19 shutdowns.
