24/02/2026
📊 Budget Speech 2026 – What Should We Really Be Watching?
Tomorrow, South Africa listens closely as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers the national budget.
But beyond the headline numbers, here’s what businesses and taxpayers should be paying attention to:
🔎 1. Tax Pressure vs Economic Growth
Will government increase VAT or personal income tax to close the fiscal gap — or focus on broadening the tax base instead?
Higher taxes may bring short-term relief to revenue, but at what cost to consumer spending and business confidence?
📉 2. Corporate Tax & SME Relief
In a constrained economy, meaningful SME incentives could stimulate job creation.
Will we see targeted relief, or will companies continue absorbing rising compliance and operational costs?
🏗 3. Infrastructure & SOE Funding
Is capital allocation shifting toward productive infrastructure, or will debt servicing continue crowding out growth expenditure?
💰 4. Debt-to-GDP & Fiscal Discipline
Markets will be watching the debt trajectory closely. Credibility and ex*****on now matter more than promises.
Alex Ncube
