South Africa's cabinet was still meeting on the 2025 budget less than one hour before the finance minister was due to present it in parliament on Wednesday, a source from the Democratic Alliance party said,

The agreement comes as South Africa’s ruling coalition is embroiled in a diplomatic crisis over laws that the US says discriminate against white farmers.

B udget announcements are rarely dramatic events in South Africa. But the statement on March 12th by Enoch Godongwana, the finance minister, could be the most consequential since the end of white rule in 1994.

Consumers, taxpayers and travelers are the losers in South Africa's new budget. Jennifer Zabasajja explains. (Source: Bloomberg)

The South African rand fell on Wednesday as disagreements in the ruling coalition persisted despite the finance minister scaling back the size of a contentious tax hike in a revised budget. The budget has been the biggest test so far of South Africa's fractious coalition politics,