Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene delivered his medium term budget policy statement as student protests broke out outside the National Assembly building in parliament yesterday. As confrontations between the police and students erupted outside, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene told MPs that the rapid increases in the cost of debt payments is starting to impact spending on social and economic priorities. Nene says the main goal over the three year budget cycle is to stabilise the increase in government debt. This year alone, government will be spending close to 130-billion rand on debt servicing costs. and revenue is set to decline by 7.6 billion rand. Nene has trimmed local economic growth to 1.5 percent for this year.

On the forum@8 : We unpack and digest the 2015 mid term budget

GUESTS:

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene

Chief economist at Macquarie First South Securities Dr Elna Moolman

Senior Economist at Alternative Information and Development Centre, Dr Dick Forslund