Beware EWC in a time of fiscal crisis - IRR
23 February 2021
As South Africa nervously awaits tomorrow’s Budget Speech, the Institute of Race Relations warns that any hope of the country’s extricating itself from its fiscal malaise will depend largely on its policy choices.
With last year’s consolidated fiscal deficit at some 15.7% of GDP – the largest on record – even a recovery to the projected 9.2% would still place South Africa in a position that mirrors its circumstances throughout the Second World War or the crisis-hit early 1990s.
The tax take meanwhile creeps ever upward. National revenue in 2019/2020, just before the pandemic, was estimated at under 30% of GDP. This is a record high – and continues a long-term trend. Continuously taking money from households and businesses contributes to their exit from South Africa and undercuts the prospects for investment.
South Africa desperately needs growth. The country cannot divorce, or afford to try to separate, any possible fiscal recovery from the policy environment that will either promote or hinder the investment that is necessary to drive it.