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Chief Economist Goolam Ballim.
Standard Bank has generally shown confidence in the Government of National Unity (GNU) ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2025 Budget Policy Statement in Cape Town this afternoon.
In his 2024 Burdget speech, Finance Minister Enoch Gongwana cited that the South African economy remains severely constrained, plagued by infrastructure challenges, lower commodity-driven revenue and a bloated public wage bill.#MorningLive #SABCNews
— SABCNews_MorningLive (@MorningLiveSABC) February 19, 2025
However, the bank says risks to the country’s fiscus include possible bailouts for state-owned entities and an expansion in social welfare.
This follows a recent court ruling that the requirements for the application for the Social Relief of Distress grant were unconstitutional and ordered government to relax them.
Standard Bank anticipates that an increase in household consumption and fixed investment will support the growth of the local economy by 1.8% this year.
Goolam Ballim, chief economist at the bank says, “We have taken into account that if you were to double the number of beneficiaries receiving the social wage it would add another R33-billion from this year to the overall fiscus. If we’re to add another R100 to the stipend that social grant beneficiaries are garnering, our sense is that it could add up to R100 billion to the fiscus. So, these are very significant items that need to be considered. We’ve also considered a very recent suggestion by Transnet that they may need R50 billion.”
Our Chief Economist, Goolam Ballim, shared key insights into Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth at the 2025 Economy Roadshow. Download the Economy 2025 e-book: #SBEconomyInsights #GrowingAfrica pic.twitter.com/24ttOfgtp7
— Standard Bank Group (@SBGroup) February 18, 2025
Budget 2025 | Finance Minister to deliver the budget speech at 2pm:
