South Africa: Gigaba´s first test
(WorldNews Africa)

Malusi Gigaba, the sometimes colourfully dapper - his unique wardrobe include suits with such `interesting´ colours like green and purple - South African finance minister, presents his first budget statement on 25 October. It is not the big one; that won´t be due until next year. But the mid-term budget would be a good first test of his 7-month stewardship thus far. Economists polled by Reuters put the likely revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year to be announced by Mr Gigaba at R40 billion (US$3 billion). (It could be up to R55 billion, some suggest.) I did not provide a shortfall forecast but the fiscal deficit projections I expect the finance minister to announce are as follows: 3.3...