Economic calendar shows South Africa’s budget deficit at 22.1 billion rand — The Rio Times

The economic calendar showed that South Africa’s state budget deficit in September 2026 amounted to 22.1 billion rand, or about $1.3 billion. The Rio Times cites these data. This means that government expenditure exceeded revenue by that amount during the month.

In August, the deficit was larger, at 29.1 billion rand. At that time, according to South Africa’s National Treasury, revenue amounted to 197.3 billion rand and expenditure to 226.5 billion rand.

Deficit in the first half of the year

From April through August, the budget deficit amounted to 188.8 billion rand. The Rio Times estimates the cumulative deficit for the first six months of the financial year, which began on April 1, at approximately 210.9 billion rand, adding September’s 22.1 billion rand to this figure.

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This is about 70% of the 301.2 billion rand deficit planned for the entire 2026/27 financial year. At the same time, the National Treasury’s full tables for September were not yet available at the time the source was checked, so the structure of revenue and expenditure for that month is not specified.

Expenditure and financing

South Africa’s 2026/27 budget allocates 432.4 billion rand for servicing public debt. By the end of August, 159.9 billion rand had already been directed to interest payments. A total of 670.3 billion rand is planned for transfers to the nine provinces to finance schools and clinics.

According to preliminary Treasury data, the government also raised $1.5 billion from the World Bank in September. The loan is due in September 2041. The state’s cash balances increased by 29.3 billion rand during the month, to 180.6 billion rand.