Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will on Wednesday table the 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), with South Africans watching closely to see how government plans to navigate sluggish growth, rising unemployment, and public spending pressures.
The statement — which outlines government’s fiscal outlook and priorities for the next three years — comes amid growing public concern that Treasury’s budget allocations have failed to stimulate economic recovery or address poverty and inequality.
Political parties have urged the minister to focus on tangible relief for citizens battling high living costs and unemployment.
Speaking to media, Build One South Africa’s Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster said the country needs meaningful reform, not deeper borrowing or cuts to essential services. “We are still at a place where more than 12 million are unemployed, and there’s talk of cutting frontline services,” she said.
EFF Treasurer-General Omphile Maotwe criticised the government’s slow growth, saying, “His job is to reduce poverty and inequality, but he’s doing the opposite — and we’re shocked when the economy doesn’t grow.”
With economic growth projected to remain below 1% this year, business and labour groups say Godongwana’s statement must restore confidence and provide a clear roadmap for fiscal discipline, job creation, and sustainable development.
