Govt revises contingency reserve to support cash-strapped SoEs

With State-owned entities (SOEs) posing very serious risks to the fiscal framework, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday said that National Treasury was “taking very serious steps to fix the fiscal position and SoEs”. With funding requests from South African Airways (SAA), the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Denel, Eskom and other financially-challenged SoEs having increased, Mboweni said that government had revised the contingency reserve upwards to R13-billion for 2019/20 to respond to possible requests for financial support. This excludes any requests from power utility Eskom, which is in severe financial distress.