Years after fiscal buffers were eroded by an era of government graft and bailouts for dysfunctional state-owned companies, the National Treasury’s resolve to stabilise public finances led to significant improvements in state debt and budget deficits. It even beat IMF estimates for the key metrics every year since 2020.
Staff of the Washington-based lender that visited South Africa and met local authorities in March are scheduled to present their findings to its executive board Monday. While the IMF cut its gross domestic product forecast for South Africa to 0.1% from 1.2% and predicted that the budget deficit would widen through the fiscal year ending March 2026 in the days after the visit, it’s expected to publish a full report with estimates for other key metrics this week.