By Sfundo Parakozov and Kopano Gumbi
CAPE TOWN, Feb 26 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said on Thursday that meeting fiscal targets alone was insufficient to draw investment into Africa’s biggest economy, stressing the need for higher economic growth.
Godongwana was speaking a day after his annual budget showed the country’s economy was on track for a third consecutive primary budget surplus, where tax revenue surpasses non-interest spending, and that debt was projected to peak this year.
“Managing these numerical targets alone is not going to be enough in the absence of growth,” Godongwana told Reuters.
South Africa’s economic growth has averaged less than 1% over the past decade, but it picked up slightly last year and is expected to rise further to 1.6% this year.
The fiscal picture also looks brighter thanks to an improvement in domestic demand and strong commodity prices, which have helped boost government revenue.
Godongwana said the government’s reform agenda was landing well with investors and expressed hope this would translate into higher levels of fixed investment over time.
“I think we’re in a better space now to achieve structural reforms and macroeconomic stability, … I think all of those things will provide a pull factor for private sector investment.”
He told lawmakers on Wednesday that the government was working on a legal “fiscal anchor”, a set of rules to try to ensure that public finances are sustainable over the longer term.
He is expected to give more details at a mid-term budget review due in October or November this year.
Godongwana, who was appointed finance minister in 2021, said on Thursday that for now he had no reason not to finish his term, which is due to run until 2029.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Kopano Gumbi in Cape Town; Editing by Alexander Winning and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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