For each government rand spent, 20c is borrowed – Sakeliga quarterly report

25 February 2020

“Minister Tito Mboweni has to cut spending, not increase taxes. This is the bottom line for a government that currently borrows 20c for every Rand spent, as Sakeliga’s latest quarterly report shows.”

So says Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga, in anticipation of the 2020 Budget Speech on 26 February and based on the latest installment of Sakeliga’s quarterly Economic Update for Business Decision-makers. The report, produced in association with ETM Macro Advisors, shows a marked deterioration in budget stress indicators since mid-2018.”

The five-page report provides a business and economics dashboard, with an overview of key economic barometers. It currently points to difficult conditions for business and employment. Government fiscal stress is regarded as the biggest risk for businesses.

Presidential Policy Scorecard

The report also presents a new indicator called the South Africa: Presidential Policy Scorecard, by means of which Sakeliga compares the actual performance of consecutive government administrations according to objective outcomes, instead of pronouncements and undertakings of reform.

Gerhard van Onselen, senior researcher at Sakeliga, explains that, “promised economic policy reform under the Ramaphosa administration appears to be slow in coming. The administration scores 30 out of 100 for the impact of reform effects on actual economic outcomes such as labour market conditions, investment, currency strength, energy production, the stock-market and bond yields.”   

Other insights in the report include six recommendations for corporate strategy as well as analyses and charts of local and global macro-economic conditions.

Read the complete report here.   

Issued by Piet le Roux, CEO, Sakeliga, 25 February 2020