Bond yields’ brush with 13% piles pressure on Enoch Godongwana

SA’s long-term government bond yield touched its highest level since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, heaping pressure on the Treasury to come up with a credible plan to make up for the mismatch between spending and revenue in November’s medium-term budget policy statement.

SA’s 20-year government bond yield, which moves inversely to the price, hit 12.95% compared with the 13.3% it reached in March 2020 when governments worldwide were trawling their coffers to provide a soft landing for citizens and businesses hit by lockdown restrictions…