SA on course to beat deficit target

SOUTH Africa will probably meet or beat its budget deficit target of 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the fiscal year that ended on Tuesday after collecting more tax than anticipated. The SA Revenue Service collected R986.4 billion of taxes in the year to March, commissioner Tom Moyane said yesterday. This was R7.4bn more than the revised tax revenue estimate announced in the February Budget. The final budget gap will only be known once data on government spending is finalised. “Revenue growth this year just ended remained resilient,” Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said. Tax revenue was 9.6 percent higher, he said. The government plans to narrow the deficit to 2.5 percent of GDP in the fiscal year to March 2018 from about 3.9 percent last year. – Bloomberg