Pensioners rescue gov’t off fiscal cliff
Friday, April 04, 2025 | 590 Views |
To the rescue: The BPOPF’s board of trustees, which represents pensioners’ interests, approved the loan on March 13 PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Traditionally, the BPOPF participates in government’s domestic debt programme indirectly through the use of intermediaries such as asset managers and their commercial banks. The P55 billion debt programme, which features monthly auctions of government bonds and treasury bills, is open exclusively to primary dealers who are commercial banks.
“Due to persistent fiscal constraints, the government account is more or less overdrawn and revenue offices across the country are experiencing operational incapacitation and as we close the financial year, government faces a significant backlog of outstanding invoices that must be settled,” Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe told Parliament on Monday in seeking approval for the loan.
According to a report elsewhere in this publication, various district councils announced that a one-bedroom home now costs over P130,000 more, a near-unthinkable 32% increase. This isn't just a minor adjustment, but a devastating blow to the dream of affordable home ownership for ordinary citizens.What is most alarming is not just the scale of the increase, but the profound confusion it has exposed. Minister Ramogapi has publicly...