The South African government will unveil its fiscal 2021 spending plans 

Johannesburg, Feb 24 (AFP/APP): The South African government will unveil its fiscal 2021 spending plans Wednesday as the continent’s most industrialised economy grapples with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic on top of a recession.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni traditionally delivers his national budget speech alongside a potted aloe vera plant, highly resistant to drought, as a symbol of South Africa’s economic resilience. Resilience will be needed after a year of rolling restrictions on movement and business to curb the coronavirus outbreak. “There’s not a lot of money and we need to have a pro-poor and pro-growth balance,” University of Johannesburg business lecturer Daniel Meyer told AFP.

Increasing taxes wont be an option, however, given the pandemic-induced losses and with local elections due this year. Unemployment in South Africa soared to a record 32.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest since records began in 2008. Mboweni “will have to take more loans to finance the budget,” Meyer said. But public debt is already expected to reach over 80 percent of GDP this year.