SOUTH African finance minister Enoch Godongwana warned leaders of the ruling African National Congress that the party’s project wish list could cost R73.5 billion ($5.2 billion) and funding it will require difficult trade-offs.
Big-ticket items that would place pressure on state finances included spending R10 billion on a state bank, Godongwana, who also serves as the ANC’s head of economic transformation, said in a presentation that was delivered to a Sept. 4-6 party meeting and seen by Bloomberg.
The government will also have to come up with R19.6 billion for increases for state workers, possibly by cutting jobs, and need R4.6 billion to forgive unpaid highway tolls in the central Gauteng province, he said.
While the ANC is preparing for local government elections on Nov. 1 and needs to show it is doing more to address rampant poverty and record unemployment, it has little room to maneuver as the government
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