Ramaphosa taps former treasury budget chief as economic adviser

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed former National Treasury budget chief Michael Sachs as his economic adviser, bringing a respected fiscal policy technocrat back into the government as the country seeks to accelerate growth and deepen economic reforms.

Sachs, who headed the Treasury’s budget office between 2015 and 2017, is expected to assume the role in the coming weeks, presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya said by phone on Wednesday. Sachs confirmed his appointment when contacted by phone.

The appointment fills a vacancy left by Trudi Makhaya, who served as Ramaphosa’s economic adviser from 2018 until 2023, and places a former senior Treasury official at the center of economic policy-making as the president seeks to lift growth in Africa’s most industrialized economy.

While the government has made progress in restoring electricity supply, improving public finances and advancing reforms in the energy and logistics sectors, economic growth remains too weak to significantly reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality. The South African economy has expanded by an average of less than 1% over the past decade.

Sachs played a key role in shaping South Africa’s budgets during a turbulent period for public finances under former President Jacob Zuma. He left government in 2017 and has since worked in academia.

His return reinforces the influence of Treasury-trained policymakers within Ramaphosa’s administration at a time when the government is attempting to translate improving macroeconomic indicators into stronger economic growth.

South Africa expects public debt to stabilise this fiscal year after years of rapid increases, while recent credit-ratings actions have reflected an improving fiscal outlook. Even so, the economy has struggled to achieve sustained growth above 2%, limiting the government’s ability to tackle one of the world’s highest unemployment rates.

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