Africa Weekly: SA budget dispute, Russia-Ukraine and Africa, G20

South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will deliver the 2025 Budget in less than two weeks, but the past few days have only underlined the widening divide between the two main parties of the Government of National Unity. Disagreements over tax and spending measures, alongside the difficulty of pushing through reforms to boost economic growth, mean that some fiscal slippage is likely. Meanwhile, the possibility of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal would be welcomed by economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially if it led to a fall in global food prices that eased balance of payments strains. Finally, the lack of an agreement on a communiqué at the G20 meeting in South Africa this week will only further raise concerns about the future of multilateralism.