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South Africa FM: Debt is the Hippo Eating the Next Generation’s Inheritance

by Eric Olander
Tito Mboweni, South African Minister of Finance, delivers his 2020 Budget Speech in the South African Parliament, on February 26, 2020, in Cape Town. RODGER BOSCH / AFP

South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni issued a dire warning to the parliament on Wednesday about the country’s debt crisis. With South Africa’s debt-to-GDP levels breaking new records this year and forecast to grow to 82% in the next few months, Minister Mboweni compared the debt to a hippo that will eat everything in its path. “Our Herculean task is to close the mouth of the hippopotamus. It is eating our children’s inheritance. We need to stop it now,” he said.

In contrast to most other African countries, South Africa does not borrow much from China and other external creditors. Instead, it uses its own capital markets to issue bonds. (DAILY MAVERICK)

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