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Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) is a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified for each new period. The process starts from a "zero-base" and each new item must be justified using needs and costs. Following the impact of COVID-19 in March 2020 and the down-grading of South Africa by the leading ratings agencies to junk status, the Minister of Finance at the time, Tito Mboweni, said that the Treasury would have to apply zero-based budgeting. This implies that government departments would have to justify their entire budget allocation rather than simply receive an adjustment to their previous allocation.

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