Standard Bank Confident In Gnu Ahead Of The 2025 Budget Speech

Standard Bank has generally shown confidence in the Government of National Unity GNU ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwanas 2025 Budget Policy Statement in Cape Town this afternoon.

However, the bank says risks to the countrys fiscus include possible bailouts for state-owned entities and an expansion in social welfare.

This follows a recent court ruling that the requirements for the application for the Social Relief of Distress grant were unconstitutional and ordered government to relax them.

Standard Bank anticipates that an increase in household consumption and fixed investment will support the growth of the local economy by 1.8 this year.

Goolam Ballim, chief economist at the bank says, We have taken into account that if you were to double the number of beneficiaries receiving the social wage it would add another R33-billion from this year to the overall fiscus. If were to add another R100 to the stipend that social grant beneficiaries are garnering, our sense is that it could add up to R100 billion to the fiscus. So, these are very significant items that need to be considered. Weve also considered a very recent suggestion by Transnet that they may need R50 billion.