South African budget raises taxes and cuts spending, South Africans were told on Wednesday to prepare for higher taxes, cutbacks in spending and three more years of power cuts.
The government's annual budget outlined a 1% increase in personal income tax and spending cuts of 25bn rand (£1.4bn; $2.2bn) over the next two years
Projected economic growth for 2015 is 2%, down from 2.5% forecast last year.
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene warned the economy would suffer from another three years of power disruptions.
Economic growth could even halve again down to just 1% this year if power constraints worsened.
He said state-owned power group Eskom faced a 200bn rand funding gap up to 2017.
Eskom will receive a capital injection of 23bn rand this year, to be raised through the sale of non-strategic government shareholdings in some state-owned companies.
Electricity prices will rise to finance Eskom's rebuilding of the country's power infrastructure.Read More
The government's annual budget outlined a 1% increase in personal income tax and spending cuts of 25bn rand (£1.4bn; $2.2bn) over the next two years
Projected economic growth for 2015 is 2%, down from 2.5% forecast last year.Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene warned the economy would suffer from another three years of power disruptions.
Economic growth could even halve again down to just 1% this year if power constraints worsened.
He said state-owned power group Eskom faced a 200bn rand funding gap up to 2017.
Eskom will receive a capital injection of 23bn rand this year, to be raised through the sale of non-strategic government shareholdings in some state-owned companies.
Electricity prices will rise to finance Eskom's rebuilding of the country's power infrastructure.Read More
