Fiscal follies and phoenixes
This year’s Budget Speech takes place in a temporary dome erected in a Cape Town parking lot. The traditional venue, Parliament, was severely damaged in a January 2022 fire. At the time, its smouldering ruins seemed an apt metaphor for a country facing massive challenges from all sides. The pandemic left a massive hole in the economy and government’s already-shaky finances. Sentiment was still very poor after the July 2021 riots and with seemingly no end in sight to ongoing loadshedding. Russia would soon launch its attack on Ukraine, leading to a global surge in food and fuel prices, and ultimately interest rates. Although the jump in other commodity prices, notably coal and rhodium, provided a temporary economic reprieve, South Africa was unable to fully capitalise because of crumbling rail and port infrastructure.