South Africa’s Treasury plans to utilize the contingency reserves fund at the central bank to reduce national debt, allocating 150 bln rand of the 500 bln in the account for immediate liability reduction, with an additional 100 bln rand reserved for future use. This strategy is intended to maintain the fiscal deficit at a forecasted 4.9% of GDP for the current year and reduce it to 3.3% within three years. Total debt is now expected to peak at 75.3% of GDP, lower than previous estimates. There were no increases in value-added tax, contrary to speculations.