JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -The South African rand weakened on Tuesday as investors waited for the finance minister to say when he will present another revised national budget.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has to make further adjustments after scrapping a contentious hike in value-added tax (VAT) that was fiercely opposed across the political spectrum.
A court on Sunday issued an order suspending the VAT hike and setting aside the adoption of the fiscal framework, paving the way for Godongwana to table new budget instruments in parliament.
At 1416 GMT, the rand traded at 18.5475 against the dollar, down about 0.3% on its previous close.
Wrangling over the 2025 budget has been the biggest test yet of the Government of National Unity coalition formed last year when the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in an election.
Godongwana initially proposed a two percentage-point hike in VAT in a February budget that was postponed at the last minute because of disagreements in the coalition.
He watered that down to a one point VAT increase spread over two years in an amended March budget, but most political parties continued to reject the plan and last week Godongwana caved to pressure to withdraw it.
Domestic investors on Wednesday will turn towards March credit extension, budget and trade figures for clues on the health of the local economy.
On the stock market, the Top-40 index was last up about 0.7%.
The benchmark 2030 government bond was marginally stronger, as the yield fell 5 basis points to 8.82%.
(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov with additional reporting by Bhargav Acharya;Editing by Alexander Winning and Sharon Singleton)
