Political parties in Parliament agree that Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba will have an unenviable task when he delivers the budget on Wednesday.
Gigaba will deliver his budget speech amid a growing budget deficit and a slow economic growth.
He will have to strike a delicate balancing act between government’s spending priorities and the increasing budget deficit, with the shortfall estimated at around R50 billion.
Economists expect Gigaba to increase VAT this time around, however, some political parties in Parliament are against that, saying the move is extremely regressive and will affect the poor.
But Gigaba has a daunting task of finding revenue to fund government’s priority projects with a constrained fiscus.
Meanwhile some political parties are warning South Africans to brace themselves for an unpopular budget speech with possible increases in all kinds of taxes.
