|
Previous Page |
Search Page
|
|
The 2009 division of revenue
|
|
The 2009 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) recognises the important developmental role played by provincial and local government and continues to strengthen their ability to provide social and municipal basic services and perform the functions allocated to them in line with section 214(2)(a) to (j) of the Constitution.
Excluding debt service costs and the contingency reserve, allocated expenditure to be shared between the three spheres amounts to R677.3 billion, R720.2 billion and R762.1 billion over each of the MTEF years. These allocations take into account government’s spending priorities, the revenue-raising capacity and functional responsibilities of each sphere,
and inputs from various intergovernmental forums and the recommendations of the FFC.
Further, the design of the equitable share formulas for both provincial and local governments are such that these spheres have desirable, stable and predictable revenue shares, and economic and fiscal disparities are addressed.
|
|
|
|
Government’s major budget priorities over the MTEF include.
|
|
|
- Enhancing the quality of education.
- Improving the provision of health care, particularly for the poor, to reduce infant, child and
maternal mortality rates.
- Reducing the levels of crime and enhancing citizen safety.
- Expanding the built environment to improve public transportation and meet universal access targets
in housing, water, electricity and sanitation.
- Decreasing rural poverty by taking steps to raise rural incomes and improve livelihoods by extending access to land and support for emerging farmers.
In addition to these priorities, policy focuses on three cross-cutting themes: support for increased employment creation, initiatives to improve the capacity of the state and, over the longer term, steps to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Provinces play a key role with respect to improving access to better-quality services, supporting
labour-intensive services and infrastructure programmes, and investing in infrastructure and services that raise the long-term growth potential of the economy and facilitate higher exports.
Provinces have limited revenue-raising capacity and rely largely on national transfers to fund the functions that seek to achieve government’s strategic objectives. Additional resources are directed towards areas where there is a clear spending impact or to protect buying power in critical areas of service delivery.
Local government plays a key role with respect to broadening access to household
services such as water, sanitation, electricity and to eliminate informal settlements.
The division of revenue for the 2009 MTEF remains supportive of pro-poor policy programmes that are designed to progressively roll out infrastructure and services in municipalities.
|
|
|
|
Previous Page |
Search Page
|