Cape Town – Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has warned against blowing the budget through the roof, saying he was waiting anxiously for the announcement of South Africa’s credit rating by rating agencies on Friday.
Mboweni told Parliament on Friday the ratings agencies would announce their results later in the day and that they will be looking at a few things.
South Africa has been downgraded by some of the ratings agencies.
Mboweni said if the country failed to tighten expenditure and fix the economy it would be in serious trouble.
“Given the lower levels of revenue it goes without saying that we have to adjust our expenditure to take into account that we are no longer as rich as we thought we were. That is why we have to do this readjustment of our budget and make sure that we keep the sanctity of our fiscal framework in place,” said Mboweni.
He said if the country failed to get the fiscal framework right it will be in serious trouble.
“Later this afternoon the ratings agencies will be indicating what the rating of South Africa is going to be and one of the issues they are looking at is sanctity or otherwise of the fiscal framework,” said Mboweni.
He urged MPs to work with him to get the economy right.
“And, please work with me to ensure that we keep the fiscal framework in place so that we don’t experience further harm to our sovereign rating, which has implications for our borrowing cost going forward. As it is I am waiting a little bit anxiously for the announcement this afternoon how they are handling our rating,” said Mboweni.
“That result of their rating has immediate implications for our borrowing cost, which will make our fiscal framework more tighter,” he said.
Political Bureau