South Africa enters the 2026 budget cycle in a more stable, but still fragile, macroeconomic environment. Global growth has proven more resilient than expected, commodity prices have provided an uneven windfall, and domestic growth has stabilised after several volatile years. The formal adoption of a 3% inflation target has begun to anchor long-term expectations and lower borrowing costs, improving the arithmetic of debt stabilisation.
Yet the foundations remain narrow. Global trade is slowing amid geoeconomic fragmentation, commodity price strength appears partly cyclical and sentiment-driven, and domestic growth remains modest and consumption-led rather than investment-driven. Read more on the 2026 Budget review Consolidation.
Call for Stories
Title: Reimagining Africa’s Digital Economies: Sociotechnical Systems, Human,Technology Interactions, and the Stories We Live
We invite storytellers, community members, youth, creatives, workers, and activists across Africa to share real, lived experiences of engaging with digital technologies. Whether it’s a personal encounter, a community story, or a moment of innovation or resistance, your voice matters.
Selected stories will be featured in a curated collection contributing to conversations on Africa’s digital future—and authors will receive an honorarium.
Submit your story (800–1,500 words) by 24 April 2026.
Be part of shaping inclusive and human-centered digital futures in Africa.
Submit now: https://bit.ly/4rRsWdD
Click on the link to access the D6 Call for Stories document.
Landmark G20 Report Calls for Global Action on the Inequality Emergency
A landmark G20 report led by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz sounds the alarm on a growing ‘inequality emergency’ and calls for the creation of an International Panel on Inequality.
An Extraordinary Committee of independent experts, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, launched the G20’s first-ever report on global inequality. The Committee urges the establishment of an International Panel on Inequality to inform policymaking internationally and by governments.
The report’s new analysis shows that between 2000 and 2024, the world’s top 1% captured 41% of all new wealth, while just 1% went to the bottom 50%, raising concerns about democratic capture linked to growing wealth concentration.
Read the full report: G20 Global Inequality Report
