JOHANNESBURG - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has tabled the 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday.
The MTBPS, also known as the mini-budget, allows government departments to apply for adjustments to their budgets, apply for rollovers, and request additional funds for unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditures.
It also sets the policy framework for the Budget that is presented every February and updates National Treasury's economic forecasts.
READ: 2025 Budget Speech 3.0
This year, the budget was delivered after two unsuccessful attempts due to a proposed VAT hike amid a High Court challenge .
While the revised budget steered clear of VAT changes, it introduced a new fuel levy sparking debate among consumers and analysts alike.
The MTBPS tabled on Wednesday spoke to government's progress on the road to achieve fiscal targets.
#MTBPS pic.twitter.com/vdgC250Btw
— PMG (@PMG_SA) November 12, 2025
Government is on track to stabilise the gross debt-to-GDP ratio in the current fiscal year and reduce it over the medium term.
Godongwana announced that the country's inflation target has changed, "I have decided after careful consideration to reduce South Africa's inflation target to 3 percent. The new target will anchor inflation at permanently lower levels. This will reduce the cost of living and borrowing costs for households, businesses, and government, supporting higher long-term economic growth and job creation."
The new inflation target comes with a 1 percentage point tolerance band.
The minister celebrated South Africa's removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list in October marking a significant gain for for business confidence.
Godongwana spoke about expected growth, "Real GDP growth is expected to average 1.8-percent over the next three years."
He discussed the progress of reforms saying, "Structural economic reforms are making steady headway, particularly in electricity, transport, and logistics, and bulk water provision. Faster implementation of domestic reforms will support expanded growth and investment."
GDP outlook and economic growth strategy has four elements according to the MTBPS:
- maintaining macroeconomic stability
- implementing structural reforms
- building state capacity
- supporting public infrastructure development
The minister outlined some of the success of Operation Vulindlela. The multi-departmental initiative continues to reform key network industries including energy, freight logistics, and water; and reforming the visa system.
WATCH | SONA 2025 | Will operation Vulindlela save municipalities?
The MTBPS states that SARS was allocated an additional R7.5 billion over the 2025 MTEF period to recover large tax debts and invest in new technology, data science, and artificial intelligence to strengthen collection efficiency and transparency.
According to the statement, the government will continue to monitor SARS's revenue performance to determine whether the R20 billion in additional tax increases for the 2026 Budget proposed in the 2025 Budget may be withdrawn.
A decision will be announced in the 2026 budget.
Ghost workers are being targeted for removal from state payroll. The initial process has flagged 8,854 cases where individuals are receiving payments from multiple departments, were inactive employees, or had bank account anomalies.