Some analysts expect MTBPS to be a balancing act for Treasury

JOHANNESBURG - Some analysts expect this week’s medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) to again be a balancing act for the National Treasury.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set to table the MTBPS at the National Assembly.

It will be the first medium-term budget policy statement under the new administration of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

Head of youth employment at the Momentum group, Nkosinathi Mahlangu, said fiscal consolidation and managing expenditure were again expected to be top of mind in the medium-term budget policy statement.

Mahlangu believes this year’s MTBPS is an audition for the GNU, in which he says the administration needs to show it has a finger on the pulse of South Africa's economic pain points, including unemployment.

At the 2023 MTBPS, Godongwana extended the social relief of distress grant to 2025.

While the social grants may feature less prominently this time around, Mahlangu said he hopes there’s a hint the SRD grant may be stretched further.

To boost job creation, Mahlangu said the government must turn its attention to small-scale farmers, in addition to the usual infrastructure programmes and manufacturing drive.

Following calls for spaza shops to be returned to the hands of locals, he said the informal economy needs a mention, while measures are needed to reduce red tape for small businesses.