Eskom has relied heavily on the liquidity of the international bond market for a big slice of its funding. A Government guarantee – R83bn, means smart money has started moving back into Eskom bonds.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greek voters could be asked to decide on whether to approve an agreement with creditors that may not be in line with his campaign pledge to end austerity.
South Africa will aim to maintain debt at sustainable levels, stabilising at 43.7 percent of GDP by 2017/18, the Treasury reiterated in a presentation in parliament on Tuesday.
Sharing his perspective this morning, Alec taps into his Budget experience in Pretoria yesterday, briefly noting the highs and lows of the Speech.
In the Budget Press Conference I asked Nene how “hard” the 44% projection is – because in 2012 his predecessor Pravin Gordhan put the peak, in 2015, at 38%.
Nazmeera Moola, is sanguine about most aspects of Budget 2015 – including the opportunistic timing of the R17bn extra fuel tax.
Budget 2015 in a nutshell: Government debt to GDP ratio is now expected to stabilise at 44% in three years’ time. 3 years ago a ceiling of 38% was projected.
Oil prices were tanking. Emerging-market currencies were in freefall. Venezuela was mired in a financial crisis and Russia had sunk into a debt default.
The South African financial sector is painfully aware that the country’s global credit rating is dangerously close to dropping to “Junk” status. In this insightful discussion, Futuregrowth’s Wikus Furstenberg explains to Alec Hogg why there’s been such a precipitous slide in recent years.
By Matthew Lester I have never forgotten a presentation made by Gill Marcus some 20 years ago. It was all about the absolute chaos that existed in public finances when we got to the New South Africa. It was all very frightening. Thus I get really enthusiastic on the release of the annual SARS Statistics … Read more