Budget 2025: New challenges likely to outweigh GNU positive sentiment, say economists
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set to table the budget on Wednesday afternoon and it's expected to be a policy mix from the different political partners in the GNU.
FILE: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana at the Land Bank media briefing, on its conclusion on the liability solution with its lenders, 9 September 2024. Picture: GCIS
JOHANNESBURG - Some economists believe the positive sentiment from the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) is likely to be outweighed by a new set of challenges as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana prepares to deliver this year’s budget speech.
Godongwana is set to table the budget on Wednesday afternoon.
It’s expected to be a policy mix from the different political partners in the GNU.
While the GNU is believed to have boosted investor appetite so far and seen policy continuity, experts from wealth management company, Citadel, believe the pace of structural reforms doesn't yet match the optimism seen post-elections.
READ: 2025 Budget Speech: Expectations from business
Citadel’s chief economist, Maarten Ackerman, said it would be a tough budget.
"And then on top of that, we’re suddenly facing a lot of headwinds from the global environment and I’m not just referring to the recent feedback from [Donald] Trump but there is a lot of uncertainty on trade, trade tariffs, trade wars."
But Ackerman said it was not all bad news.
"I do think there is some progress being made, especially with policy reform which will start to show up with better results but we’re still talking about two or three years from now."