MTBPS: the deficit is deafening

Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) – just reading it out loud is more of a mouthful than Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s finest roast chickens on Twitter. This is different to the annual budget speech which presents the country’s finances for the next financial year. The MTBPS gives context to the budget speech for the forthcoming year, giving the market details …

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South African stimulus and the risk of stagflation

The word “stimulus” has been on everyone’s lips. Simply put, economic stimulus is an attempt by a government to kick-start growth during a recession. There are various ways and means to do this, using monetary or fiscal policy or a combination of the two: Examples of monetary policy: Lowering interest rates Quantitative easing (central banks buying longer-term securities in the …

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