Treasury deputy director-general (DDG) Edgar Sishi is leaving the Treasury at end-February to join the IMF.
Sishi joined the Treasury almost two decades ago and has been an integral part of its senior leadership for several years. He took over the budget office during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and has played a crucial role in navigating public finances through unprecedented challenges.
His leadership helped to achieve the turning point in South Africa’s public finances that was evident in the 2026 budget, with debt stabilising for the first time since before the 2008 global financial crisis.
The improvement in public finances will support faster growth and lower borrowing costs, while protecting the future sustainability of social spending.
“The National Treasury thanks Edgar for his dedicated service to the department and to South Africa and congratulates him on his new post,” said Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse.
“The departure of a senior official is always challenging for the institution, but Edgar has built a strong team at the budget office, and I have full confidence in their ability to maintain the very high standards set under his stewardship,” Pieterse said.
From April 1, three chief directors with direct exposure to the budget process will act rotationally, beginning with Marumo Maake, who was previously acting head of the budget office from April 2025 to October 2025.
The Treasury will begin a recruitment process for a new permanent DDG budget office as soon as possible, it says.
Sishi went on a six-month sabbatical last year, raising questions about whether he stood down because he was uncomfortable about the direction of fiscal policy at the time, but it was denied by Pieterse, who said the sabbatical application was made in November 2024 and finalised in February 2025.
Fiscal policy changed course in February last year when finance minister Enoch Godongwana pencilled in a huge spending increase funded by higher VAT — after years of government reliance mainly on spending cuts to stabilise soaring debt. The proposed VAT increase was withdrawn after opposition party protests.
Goldman Sachs economist Andrew Matheny told Business Day in April last year that Sishi was the chief architect of the spending cuts of the past five years, which helped stabilise public debt.
“A lot of the credibility of the spending cuts is thanks to his efforts, and in that sense he does leave pretty big shoes to fill [when going on sabbatical], especially in the current context where government has reneged on revenue measures for political and legal reasons and will need to find spending cuts in short order,” Matheny said.
Update: March 5 2026
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