South Africa has enacted changes to its public finance laws that will reduce the red tape for projects valued at less than R2-billion where the government partners with private businesses.
The amendments to Regulation 16 of the Public Finance Management Act also introduce the concept of unsolicited proposals, where a company can pitch ideas for projects to a state institution instead of first waiting for the government to request bids.
National treasury first proposed the amendments in February last year and published the changes in a government notice on 7 February. They take effect from 1 June.
‘Best chance’
With finances of the state and government-owned companies “hollowed out”, public-private partnerships “are the best chance we have”, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said in August.
Read: Everything Ramaphosa said about tech in his 2025 Sona speech
Weak economic growth that’s averaged less than 1% annually over the past decade has left national treasury with few options to reduce debt repayments that consume more than a fifth of its budget and fund a rising wage bill without cutting spending to government departments. — (c) 2025 Bloomberg LP
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