{"id":265409,"date":"2025-11-12T15:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T16:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=265409"},"modified":"2025-11-13T06:04:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T06:04:33","slug":"finance-minister-highlights-progress-on-debt-greylisting-and-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/finance-minister-highlights-progress-on-debt-greylisting-and-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Finance minister highlights progress on debt, greylisting and investment"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

In his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) speech Finance Minister Enoch <\/span>Godongwana detailed the promises kept over the past few years. <\/span><\/p>\n

The focus now is on how to <\/span>grow the economy faster and attract the investment needed to create jobs and improve the <\/span>life of all South Africans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, we committed to stabilising public debt in the current year and then begin <\/span>reduce it. Despite a challenging environment of persistently low economic growth, we are on <\/span>track to achieve this goal. We also committed to remove South Africa from the Financial <\/span>Action Task Force grey list. We have delivered on this commitment in just two and a half <\/span>years. This is thanks to collaboration across government departments, law enforcement <\/span>agencies and the private sector. Exiting the grey list enhances South Africa\u2019s attractiveness to <\/span>investors and make it easier to do business with us,\u201d Godongwana said.<\/span><\/p>\n

These achievements have meant that the government bond yield curve has been lowered, the <\/span>risk premium for owning South African government bonds has been reduced, so debt servicing <\/span>costs have been cut. Eventually this should lead to an improvement in South Africa\u2019s credit <\/span>rating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign participation in domestic bond auctions has grown from 24.8% in April 2025 to 26.8% <\/span>in September 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Treasury said this increased participation was supported by lower global risk aversion and <\/span>improved sovereign risk perceptions, bolstering demand and lowering yields. During this <\/span>period, credit rating agencies reaffirmed South Africa’s sovereign ratings and outlook, citing <\/span>progress on fiscal consolidation and stronger external balances.<\/span><\/p>\n

This has already led to lower debt service costs as debt service costs in the current year will be <\/span>R4.8 billion lower than estimated in the 2025 Budget, supported by lower interest rates, lower <\/span>inflation and a stronger currency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although some promises have been kept, Godongwana said more needed to be done given <\/span>the uncertain global economic outlook. In particular, he warned that although global equity <\/span>markets have surged this year, driven in part by Artificial Intelligence (AI) related stocks and <\/span>central bank rate cuts, but this rally carries the risk of sudden reversals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to make progress in the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade <\/span>Agreement to strengthen multilateralism and regional cooperation. Under the South African <\/span>presidency of the G20, significant strides have been made to strengthen macroeconomic <\/span>fundamentals of debtor countries, many of them African, to build a more prosperous region <\/span>and continent to support faster trade,\u201d Godongwana said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from boosting intra-African trade, Godongwana aims to slim down the civil service by <\/span>eliminating ghost workers and boosting early retirement. In addition, the government will <\/span>clamp down on the growing markets for illicit cigarettes and alcohol, which pose serious risk <\/span>to public health and undermine compliant businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach year, billions of rands in taxes go uncollected, funds that could have closed our revenue <\/span>gap and avoided tax increases entirely. According to SARS, since 2020, government has lost <\/span>around R40 billion in excise revenue to the cigarette black market. The same is true for illicit <\/span>alcohol and fuel. Government is clamping down on this illegal trade. In the last six months, <\/span>SARS suspended three licenses for non-compliant tobacco production,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

To give credence to President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s promise to turn South Africa into a vast <\/span>construction site, Godongwana said that the Treasury have reconfigured the Budget Facility <\/span>for Infrastructure (BFI) to run four bid windows annually instead of just one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince the reconfiguration, the BFI has received 28 submissions and nine projects were <\/span>accepted for detailed analysis. To raise the funding for these BFI projects, a new <\/span>infrastructure bond will be launched soon to raise a minimum of R15 billion,\u201d Godongwana <\/span>said.<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) speech Finance Minister Enoch\u00a0Godongwana detailed the promises kept over the past few years. The focus now is on how to\u00a0grow the economy faster and attract the investment needed to create jobs and improve the\u00a0life of all South Africans.\u201cTwo years ago, we committed to stabilising public debt in the current year and then begin\u00a0reduce it. Despite a challenging environment of persistently low economic growth, we are on\u00a0track to achieve this goal. We also committed to remove South Africa from the Financial\u00a0Action Task Force grey list. We have delivered on this commitment in just two and a half\u00a0years. This is thanks to collaboration across government departments, law enforcement\u00a0agencies and the private sector. Exiting the grey list enhances South Africa\u2019s attractiveness to\u00a0investors and make it easier to do business with us,\u201d Godongwana said.These achievements have meant that the government bond yield curve has been lowered, the\u00a0risk premium for owning South African government bonds has been reduced, so debt servicing\u00a0costs have been cut. Eventually this should lead to an improvement in South Africa\u2019s credit\u00a0rating.Foreign participation in domestic bond auctions has grown from 24.8% in April 2025 to 26.8%\u00a0in September 2025.The Treasury said this increased participation was supported by lower global risk aversion and\u00a0improved sovereign risk perceptions, bolstering demand and lowering yields. During this\u00a0period, credit rating agencies reaffirmed South Africa’s sovereign ratings and outlook, citing progress on fiscal consolidation and stronger external balances.This has already led to lower debt service costs as debt service costs in the current year will be\u00a0R4.8 billion lower than estimated in the 2025 Budget, supported by lower interest rates, lower\u00a0inflation and a stronger currency.Although some promises have been kept, Godongwana said more needed to be done given\u00a0the uncertain global economic outlook. In particular, he warned that although global equity\u00a0markets have surged this year, driven in part by Artificial Intelligence (AI) related stocks and\u00a0central bank rate cuts, but this rally carries the risk of sudden reversals.\u201cWe continue to make progress in the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade\u00a0Agreement to strengthen multilateralism and regional cooperation. Under the South African\u00a0presidency of the G20, significant strides have been made to strengthen macroeconomic\u00a0fundamentals of debtor countries, many of them African, to build a more prosperous region\u00a0and continent to support faster trade,\u201d Godongwana said.Apart from boosting intra-African trade, Godongwana aims to slim down the civil service by\u00a0eliminating ghost workers and boosting early retirement. In addition, the government will\u00a0clamp down on the growing markets for illicit cigarettes and alcohol, which pose serious risk\u00a0to public health and undermine compliant businesses.\u201cEach year, billions of rands in taxes go uncollected, funds that could have closed our revenue\u00a0gap and avoided tax increases entirely. According to SARS, since 2020, government has lost\u00a0around R40 billion in excise revenue to the cigarette black market. The same is true for illicit\u00a0alcohol and fuel. Government is clamping down on this illegal trade. In the last six months,\u00a0SARS suspended three licenses for non-compliant tobacco production,\u201d he said.To give credence to President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s promise to turn South Africa into a vast\u00a0construction site, Godongwana said that the Treasury have reconfigured the Budget Facility\u00a0for Infrastructure (BFI) to run four bid windows annually instead of just one.\u201cSince the reconfiguration, the BFI has received 28 submissions and nine projects were\u00a0accepted for detailed analysis. To raise the funding for these BFI projects, a new\u00a0infrastructure bond will be launched soon to raise a minimum of R15 billion,\u201d Godongwana\u00a0said.BUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":265411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265410,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265409\/revisions\/265410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}