South Africa’s financial conditions remain dire: official

JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 30 — South Africa’s financial conditions remain dire as the economy is facing low economic growth, high government debt, and low investment, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has said. South Africa’s debt of 45 trillion rand (about 2.39 trillion U.S. dollars) is too high, coupled with debt servicing costs, Godongwana said on Saturday at the annual forum of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation at Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal Province. “Interest payments (debt-service cost) on the national government debt increased markedly by 24.6 percent year on year to 44.7 billion rand in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. If we project the loss of revenue over the next few months, up to the beginning of next year, we are going to have serious challenges,” the minister said. “The serious challenges are reflected by the Reserve Bank, which is saying that, sooner or later, we are going to run out of cash,” said Godongwana, noting that the country’s economy has not experienced any growth in the last four quarters. Mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and power shortages are some of the sectors that are not performing well, while investment in public infrastructure remains low, according to Godongwana, who stressed the need to increase borrowing to prevent drastic reductions in government expenditure