Economists Predict Increased Funding On Defence Ahead Of Budget 2025

Senior Economist at consultancy firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers PWC, Xhanti Payi predicts that the Defence Department may see an increase in funding in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwanas 2025 Budget Policy Statement in Cape Town this afternoon.

More than two weeks ago, 14 South African soldiers were killed in fighting between the M23 rebels and the Congolese military in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo DRC.

This has sparked calls for the withdrawal of the South African soldiers deployed to the DRC.

Some stakeholders, including political parties, say the soldiers are under-resourced because the department is underfunded.

Payi says, The first area that we know to change is likely our spending on Defence. Thats the area that weve been cutting of a period of time in the budget last year that was seen to be growing only by 1. Now we know that politicians are calling for much higher increases given the situation that weve seen in the DRC with South African soldiers that have been killed. So well probably see some push to see increased spending.