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Meanwhile, ETM economist Russell

Meanwhile, ETM economist Russell Lamberti told Fin24.com that South Africa should be living within its means during the downturn.

He added that the budget deficit was effectively "mortgaging our future" because the state will be forced to pearl jewelry commit more current funds to servicing debt.

"Another risk is that if interest rates around the pearl necklace world increase next year, that debt will become more expensive to service," said Lamberti.

"If we manage to invest that money in good infrastructure and other sustainable channels, I guess we can get away with it," he said.

Mike Schüssler from economists.co.za said although the fiscal deficit was a bit higher than expected, it was "not a train smash".

Another point of concern was the level of government expenditure, which is seen at 35% of GDP in the biwa pearl current financial year and later stabilising at 34.1% of GDP in the shell pearl jewelry medium term.

Treasury has said that the rise in government spending during the recession "stimulates demand and partially offsets the effects of declining growth in other sectors of the economy".

However, some commentators have said that an increase in fiscal spend to this level effectively limits the amount of investment the private sector is capable of.

"These are the sort of levels you don't expect to see in a developed economy," said Schüssler.

On the positive side, economists called Gordhan's maiden budget a "fair and inflatable water games balanced one" with little evidence of akoya pearl bowing to political pressure on policies.

BJM economist Elna Moolman praised government's commitment to counter cyclical policies. She singled out pressing on with stimulus policies despite the fact that the South African economy has hit rock bottom and is expected to report positive growth next year.

Tuesday, 22-Dec-2009 08:17

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depreciation and amortisation

Johannesburg - The recession has taken its toll on freshwater pearl earrings Transnet, which reported a 23% slump in net profit for the six months to end-September.

Transnet apparently tried to put a pearl jewelry positive spin on its results, preferring to use earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) and reporting "marginal growth in profits to R6.6bn".

Interim revenue rose by 3% to R17.3bn, while headline earnings fell 28% to R1.3bn because of higher depreciation and interest charges, Transnet grew its cashpile to R6.5bn from R5.9bn at the end of March and from R2.6bn in September 2008.

"This credible performance has occurred despite the sharp fall on commodity and container volumes occasioned by the ongoing recession," said Transnet in cultured pearl jewelry a statement. It said revenue growth was "restricted" by the economic recession and its negative impact on commodity volumes generally.

Volumes handled by its general freight business dropped 17.6% for the six months to end-September and container volumes declined by 12.9%.

"We are seeing some green shoots; for example, the general freight business, experienced its best month in September 2009," said acting chief executive Chris Wells. "Still, we think it is too soon to be confident of steady volume growth. It is early days for these to akoya pearl come through in volume growth."

Transnet has increased its capital expenditure programme by 5.4% to inflatable water games R8.7bn compared to the previous period. It said it was continuing with its planned R80bn capital investment programme, as it was optimistic about "the resilience of the economy and its ability to biwa pearl overcome the recession".

In the first six months, the parastatal raised nearly 90% or R13bn of its required funding for the full year to March 2010. Transnet said it still had "significant capacity" to increase its gearing ratio from the current 37% as it was well within its gearing target of 50%.

Tuesday, 22-Dec-2009 08:15

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when the National Party

Pretoria - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan plans to cut the deficit substantially over the next three years, going some way towards allaying fears that there might be a strong lurch to cultured pearl jewelry the left that will see government debt skyrocketing.

Government's deficit for the present fiscal year is projected at a high 7.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) - far exceeding former finance minister Trevor Manuel's plan for a 3.8% deficit.

The deficit was last at this level in 1993, when the National Party delivered its swansong. The huge deficit this year was mainly the result of a R70.3bn shortfall in revenue in the pearl necklace present fiscal year, which reflects the economic recession.

Deficits are expressed as a pearl jewelry percentage of GDP to show what proportion of the economy is taken up by net state borrowing. A deficit is the difference between spending and revenue, with spending exceeding revenue.

Gordhan plans to cut the deficit to biwa pearl 6.2% of GDP next year - a decline of R21.7bn in rand terms. This is still a high deficit, given that the normal benchmark is 3%, but is justified given the bleak outlook for the shell pearl jewelry economy.

He then projects a deficit of akoya pearl 5% of GDP for 2011/12 and 4.2% of GDP for 2012/13.

Tuesday, 22-Dec-2009 08:13

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The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement

Though the deficit remains above the key benchmark level of 3% of GDP, it's important to note that, all over the world, governments are going to be struggling to get deficits under some kind of pearl necklace control - let alone to 3% of GDP.

But to people who thought that SA was doing that much better than its international counterparts in the US and the UK, where budget deficits of about 12% of GDP are the norm, the MTBPS paints a different picture. What's important for measuring the fiscal stance is the swing in the deficit, and not its absolute level.

The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) said the swing in SA's budget balance is among the world's largest, comparable to that of the UK and the US. In contrast to many countries, SA entered the crisis with a fiscal surplus and government debt at historic lows. The swing in the country's deficit was about 8% while that of freshwater pearl earrings the akoya pearl US is about 10%.

Government's borrowing requirement - the deficit plus debt falling due - will hit a massive R175.8bn this fiscal year, against a budgeted R90.4bn. This will drop to R167.6bn in the biwa pearl next fiscal year and R145bn in the 2012/13 fiscal year.

Despite the decline in the deficit, government's net loan debt as a proportion of GDP will rise sharply to 41.1% of GDP in pearl jewelry 2012/13 from 22.6% in the 2008/09 fiscal year. The rise takes debt to the cultured pearl jewelry same levels as was the case when Manuel implemented Gear (the Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy) in 1996.

Tuesday, 22-Dec-2009 08:05

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Johannesburg - Warrants for

Johannesburg - Warrants for the arrest of Barry Tannenbaum and Dean Rees, alleged to have been behind a pearl jewelry multi-billion rand pyramid scheme, have been issued, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in parliament.

Gordhan said one individual was thought to have benefited by up to shell pearl jewelry R800m on which "he was not probably paying any tax."

The scheme crossed some eight jurisdictions, said Gordhan who was formerly head of the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

News agency Sapa reported in August that the High Court had frozen R43m linked to the pyramid scheme, also called a Ponzi scheme - a fraudulent ploy that pays generous returns to biwa pearl investors from their own money, or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from actual profit earned.

Tannenbaum, who currently lives in Australia, has denied being involved in such a scheme.

Before delivering his speech, Gordhan also announced that treasury has asked prosecuting authorities to bring Land Bank employees who have been charged with inflatable water games corruption to court "as soon as possible".

Gordhan said: "This has to be an example to South Africans and others (civil servants). Culprits that literally steal form the fiscus can't be allowed to get away with it."

Commenting on crime, Gordhan said it was undermining the akoya pearl ability of business and institutions to function.

"Our efforts have to include better vigilance in both the freshwater pearl earrings public and private sectors against corruption and financial mismanagement," said Gordhan.