In announcing free higher education, South African President Jacob Zuma, lobbed a populist hot potato at the ANC elective conference but it’s ordinary people whose fingers will be burnt.
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Seven charts on the highlights from the government’s mid year update of the budget.
Australian government environmental funding has decreased by a third since 2013. At the same time, Australia is experiencing massive species loss as funding for the sector dries up.
Unless the government is willing to increase taxes elsewhere to pay for tax cuts there will be longer-term costs for the budget and the economy. And younger Australians will wear these costs.
Indonesia needs to follow the example of many other countries and have a legislative budget office. It would consist of economists that advice government on budgets.
Today’s news can often involve mind-bogglingly large numbers. A math professor shares some tricks for understanding it all.
The imposition of the fee free higher education proposal on South Africa’s National Treasury without due consideration represents an escalation of the state capture led by President Jacob Zuma.
South Africa’s finance minister Malusi Gigaba failed to impress when presenting the eagerly awaited 2017 medium term budget.
South Africa’s 2017 medium term budget reveals a growing gap between revenue and expenditure which places the country in a highly vulnerable financial state.
Australia’s Charter of Budget Honesty could be easily adopted by Canada. Such a charter can include suggestions for constraints and rules that encourage fiscal discipline.
South Africa waits with bated breath for the 2017 medium term budget policy statement from new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, as it might reveal key signals of where economic policy is headed.
The amendments to South Africa’s Money Bills Act don’t go far enough - for one, they do not address incoherence in Parliament’s oversight of taxes.
The government shouldn’t cave to WA’s calls for a change to the way GST is divvied out. The current system has served Australia well.
The 30% subsidy for private health insurance was predicted to be a bad and costly policy many years ago. And 20 years later, the only thing that’s changed is the $6 billion-plus hole in the budget.
The government will highlight in its May 9 budget a distinction between ‘good’ debt, incurred to boost growth, and ‘bad’ debt, used to finance welfare and other recurrent spending.
Because the budget is a very difficult means of carrying out targeted fiscal policy, it’s become more important as a centrepiece for the government’s economic strategy.
What has been lost in stating the case for South Africa’s credit rating is a tangible plan for strengthening governance and regulation of its state owned enterprises.
The removal of South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, is the greatest threat to public finances experienced in the post 1994 era.
The government has yet to address a major incentive to put assets into super and hold them until the retirement phase.
A lot more goes into the making of South Africa’s final national budget than many people realise. The process involves extensive legalities designed to ensure public oversight.
Top contributors
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Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
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Senior Research Fellow, Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg
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Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professor of Institutional Economics, RMIT University
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Professor of Economics, UNSW Sydney
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Professiorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith University
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Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney
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Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute
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Economist, UNSW Sydney
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Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Economics, University of Canberra
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Professor, The University of Melbourne
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Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Tasmania
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Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of Sydney
