{"id":61683,"date":"2024-02-24T13:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T13:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline"},"modified":"2024-02-24T14:35:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T14:35:01","slug":"concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","title":{"rendered":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be used is concerning as it opens the funds up to abuse.<\/p>\n

This is feedback from Standard Bank\u2019s head of macroeconomic research for South Africa, Elna Moolman, who praised the Finance Minister\u2019s Budget despite her concerns about the use of the forex reserves.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced during the Budget Speech that the National Treasury will restructure reserves held at the Reserve Bank to free up R150 billion over three years.<\/p>\n

The account, known as the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account, showed paper profits of R507.3 billion as of last month.<\/p>\n

Technically, R250 billion will be withdrawn from the account, but R100 billion will be allocated to protect the Reserve Bank\u2019s balance sheet from losses.<\/p>\n

This is meant to reassure investors that the funds are being used wisely and the reserves won\u2019t be plundered for voter-pleasing budget giveaways.<\/p>\n

However, Moolman cautioned against thinking too optimistically about the government withdrawing billions of rands from the account without any laws governing the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government will make a larger, immediate withdrawal from the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account than generally expected,\u201d Moolman said.<\/p>\n

She explained this would reduce the government\u2019s borrowing requirement and, therefore, its debt burden.<\/p>\n

While this will help the country\u2019s finances, the lack of laws governing the process and the use of these funds opens it up to potential abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was disappointing that only guiding principles on how the funds will be used were provided in the Budget, with (only) an undertaking that it will eventually be \u2018formalised through legislation\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guiding principles in the Budget are pragmatic, but we would\u2019ve preferred the account only to be used once its use is legislated to ensure that future use will remain prudent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moolman warned before the Budget Speech that tapping the reserves would only serve to delay South Africa hitting a fiscal cliff if fiscal policy was not reformed.<\/p>\n

She explained that a pot of limited resources presents no long-term fix for the country\u2019s deteriorating finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the spending discipline and growth-lifting reforms that we assume are underway, withdrawing from the reserves would merely be delaying a fiscal cliff,\u201d Moolman said.<\/p>\n

Moolman urged the National Treasury and the Reserve Bank to ensure strict rules define the size of the withdrawal from the account and the use of the funds.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be used is concerning as it opens the funds up to abuse. This is feedback from Standard Bank\u2019s head of macroeconomic research for South Africa, Elna Moolman, who praised the Finance Minister\u2019s Budget despite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":61682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-61683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nConcerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\",\"name\":\"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":432,\"caption\":\"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline - South Africa","description":"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline","og_description":"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline","datePublished":"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline"},"wordCount":433,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline","name":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg","datePublished":"2024-02-24T13:51:02+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-24T14:35:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The government\u2019s withdrawal of R150 billion from the gold and forex reserves account without formalising how it will be ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/02\/sm_1708772549.060149.jpg","width":768,"height":432,"caption":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/concerns-surround-godongwanas-r150-billion-forex-reserves-lifeline#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Concerns surround Godongwana\u2019s R150 billion forex reserves lifeline"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}