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The sustainability of South African fiscal policy

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  • Philippe Burger

Abstract

The public-debt-to-GDP ratio in South Africa increased from 26 per cent in the 2008/09 fiscal year to 73.9 per cent in 2023/24, raising fears that fiscal policy is not sustainable. This raises the question: did the government take steps to arrest the increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio and regain fiscal sustainability, and if so, why did they fail? Establishing fiscal sustainability can be done directly or indirectly. Doing it directly entails the government increasing the primary balance in reaction to higher debt levels. Hence, this paper presents a fiscal reaction function.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Burger, 2024. "The sustainability of South African fiscal policy," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2024-59, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-59
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