Mboweni has walked a tight rope in his Budget with measures to cut down on expenditure and plans to reduce debt in the next five years.
In the review Treasury said they have extended the R350 grant for the unemployment until April, but wanted to bring down debt levels with debt servicing costs now exceeding health expenditure. He added: “A packet of 20 cigarettes will be an extra R1.39c, 25g of piped tobacco will cost an extra 47c and a 23g cigar will be R7.71 more expensive.”“Debt is now expected to stabilise at 88.9% of GDP in 2025/26-down from a projected 95.3% of GDP estimated in the 2020 MTBPS . This is as a result of a decline in the tax revenue shortfall since the tabling of the MTBPS, which resulted in improved cash balances,” stated the Budget review.
The government and unions were in loggerheads after the unions accused the government of reneging on the 2018 agreement to increase salaries for public servants.