{"id":63402,"date":"2024-03-30T13:06:35","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T13:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february"},"modified":"2024-03-30T14:19:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T14:19:45","slug":"government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february","title":{"rendered":"Government posts surprise budget surplus in February"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The rand reversed earlier losses after data showed the government unexpectedly recorded a budget surplus in February, only the second positive reading since July.<\/p>\n

The rand pared a decline of as much as 1% against the dollar to trade 0.1% weaker at 18.93 by 5:57 p.m. on Friday in Johannesburg after National Treasury figures showed that the budget swung to a surplus of R20.8 billion in February.<\/p>\n

The median estimate of four economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a deficit of R7.5 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consensus forecast was arguably overly pessimistic, being based on the provisional financing figures, which included a R14 billion debt-relief payment to Eskom,\u201d said Carmen Nel, head of multi-asset strategy at Terebinth Capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that the debt relief sits below the line, this payment does not form part of the expenditure and so would not be part of the main budget balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funds form part of a R254 billion package announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in February last year, aimed at strengthening Eskom\u2019s balance sheet to help the utility revive its plans and curb almost-daily power cuts that plague the continent\u2019s most industrialized economy.<\/p>\n

Spending curbs \u2014 which the National Treasury committed to in its February budget \u2014 and a recovery in revenue growth also helped improve the budget balance, Nel said.<\/p>\n

For the government to achieve its main budget deficit forecast of R331.4 billion in 2023-24, the March shortfall would need to be as small as R3.4 billion, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very tall order,\u201d Nel said. \u201cThe February surplus alone does not have much implication for debt stability and sustainability, as this will ultimately be a function of fundamental reform, stronger growth, and greater prudence on the spending side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treasury forecasts gross debt will peak at 75.3% of gross domestic product in 2025-26.<\/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 rand reversed earlier losses after data showed the government unexpectedly recorded a budget surplus in February, only the second positive reading since July. The rand pared a decline of as much as 1% against the dollar to trade 0.1% weaker at 18.93 by 5:57 p.m. on Friday in Johannesburg after National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-63402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment posts surprise budget surplus in February - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rand reversed earlier losses after data showed the government unexpectedly recorded a budget surplus in February, on ...\" \/>\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\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government posts surprise budget surplus in February\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rand reversed earlier losses after data showed the government unexpectedly recorded a budget surplus in February, on ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\" \/>\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=\"2024-03-30T13:06:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-30T14:19:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1711795587.149542.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\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\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Government posts surprise budget surplus in February\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-30T13:06:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-30T14:19:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\"},\"wordCount\":317,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/03\/sm_1711795587.149542.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/government-posts-surprise-budget-surplus-in-february\",\"name\":\"Government posts surprise budget surplus in February - 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