Budget 2024 | Fitch questions revenue growth optimism, keeps SA's credit rating unchanged

Ratings agency Fitch has questioned the National Treasury's optimism around revenue growth over the medium. This follows Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's tabling of the 2024 Budget last week. Godongwana announced that the budget deficit for the 2023/2024 fiscal year would come in at 4.9% of GDP, with that seen declining to 3.7% by the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

Fitch says it believes that the National Treasury's revised projections for revenue and the deficit for 2024 and 2025 are over-optimistic, adding that it maintained a more conservative view of the outlook. It also questioned why the National Treasury had not extended further support to Transnet, over and above the R47 billion guarantee provision announced late last year.
Despite its reservations, it's kept South Africa's credit rating unchanged at BB minus, with a stable outlook.