Budget 2023: Election-centric plan overshadows reforms

THE government faces an exceptionally difficult balancing act. Budget 2023 is set against a backdrop of turbulence in global financial markets (equities and bonds) and foreign exchange markets, as well as a rising risk of global recession in 2023, amid the strengthening of the domestic economy.

Budget 2023 sets a course for sustaining economic recovery amid a small effort to resume the fiscal consolidation path for restoring the health of public finances.