South Africa’s national budget presentation was abruptly postponed yesterday due to a dispute within the country’s coalition government.

National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza told lawmakers that such a postponement had never occurred in the past 30 years.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC), which lost its parliamentary majority in last year’s election, requires support from coalition partners to pass the budget. Its main ally, the Democratic Alliance (DA), opposed the ANC’s proposal to raise value-added tax (VAT) by two percentage points, which was intended to address funding shortfalls in education and social programmes. The delay rattled financial markets, with the South African rand falling as much as 1% against the US dollar. The budget is now expected to be tabled on March 12.