Budget plans put focus on weak fiscal positions

Policymakers in South Africa and Nigeria both laid out fiscal plans this month, but their responses to weak revenues were very different. South Africa’s new finance minister announced a wider deficit in 2019, while Nigerian officials promised to cut spending. Despite frequent worries about South Africa’s debt position, we think that the situation is more stable than is many seem to believe. In Nigeria, by contrast, we think that the risk of debt problems is being underestimated.