BUSA welcomes the announcement that the budget deficit is expected to be narrowed to approximately 3 per cent of GDP by the 2013/14 financial year, and stabilisation of Government debt at approximately 40 per cent of GDP in the 2015/16 financial year. BUSA believes that the 2010 MTBPS has broadly struck the right balance between fiscal consolidation and being growth- friendly. However, the overall public-sector borrowing requirement needs to be managed carefully and that huge borrowing programmes by both Eskom and Transnet do not jeopardise long term borrowing costs for the country.