Summary
1. Published by the National Treasury in terms of Section 32 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), this statement of provincial receipts and payments covers the first six months (April to September 2013) of the 2013/14 financial year. The statement is available on the treasury website at: www.treasury.gov.za.
2. The information in the statement comes from the Section 40(4) PFMA reports submitted by heads of provincial departments to provincial treasuries, who, in turn, submitted the information to the National Treasury. Queries on spending or budget numbers should therefore, in the first instance, be referred to the head of the relevant provincial department, and in the second instance to the head of the relevant provincial treasury. Queries on conditional grants may be referred to the head of the national department administering the grant.
3. The budgeted figures in this statement are based on the 2013 Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure, which were presented to the provincial legislatures during March 2013.
4. They exclude the adjustments proposed in the 2013 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure and the 2013 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement tabled on 23 October 2013, which are:
a. A total of R1.4 billion has been added to the Provincial Equitable Share. Of this total amount; R563.8 million is to provide for higher than budgeted wage costs due to increased inflation, R690.8 million is added to the provincial equitable share to assist provinces with the cost of re-grading clerical positions, a roll-over of R109.4 million was approved on the provincial equitable share for funds allocated to the Devolution of Property Rate Funds grant that were allocated but not transferred to provinces in 2012/13 and R424 000 to reimburse provinces for funeral costs incurred for those killed in the Marikana tragedy.
b. R11.5 million is added to the Further Education and Training Colleges grant to cover the higher than budgeted wage increases.
c. R103.2 million is approved for unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure for the repair and replacement of infrastructure damaged by floods.
d. R14.7 million has been approved as a roll-over to provincial conditional grants.
e. R1 million has been added to the Expanded Public Works Programme Integrated grant.
5. Detailed information on the additional adjustments is set out in the 2013 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill. The above-mentioned documents are available on the treasury website at www.treasury.gov.za.
6. Provinces will have concluded their 2013 adjusted estimates by the end of November 2013.
Overall expenditure trends for the first six months
7. In aggregate, provinces had spent R202.8 billion, or 48.5 per cent, of their combined budgets of R418.5 billion, an increase of 7.2 per cent or R13.6 billion on the R189.3 billion spent last year.
8. Education expenditure, which at 41.4 per cent is the largest item on provincial budgets, was R87.6 billion or 50.5 per cent of the R173.5 billion combined education budgets, an increase of 6.3 per cent or R5.2 billion on the previous financial year.
9. Health expenditure, which at 30.9 per cent is the second largest item on provincial budgets, totalled R64.4 billion, or 49.9 per cent of the R129.2 billion combined health budgets. The expenditure represents an increase of 7.4 per cent or R4.4 billion on the same period for the 2012/13 financial year.
10. Social development expenditure for the half-year was R6.4 billion or 45.4 per cent of the R14 billion combined social development budgets.
11. Personnel expenditure (compensation of employees) was R126.6 billion or 50.3 per cent of the budgeted (main) R251.5 billion. National government made available R575.3 million through the 2013 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure in October to provide for the higher than budgeted wage increases.
12. In aggregate, provinces spent R12.8 billion or 43.8 per cent of their R29.2 billion combined capital (payments for capital assets) budgets, an increase of 2.7 per cent on the expenditure for same period of the 2012/13 financial year.
13. Provincial education departments spent R4.1 billion or 45.9 per cent of the budgeted R9 billion for capital expenditure, which is R259.8 million or 6.7 per cent more than the expenditure for the previous financial year.
14. Provincial health departments spent R3.4 billion or 43.3 per cent of the budgeted R7.7 billion for capital expenditure, which is R304.2 million or 8.3 per cent less than the same period for 2012/13.
15. The biggest share (34.2 per cent) of provincial capital budgets is for the public works, roads and transport departments, which spent R4.4 billion or 44 per cent of the combined capital budget of R10 billion.
16. Provinces collected own revenue of R6.6 billion, or 52 per cent of the budgeted R12.7 billion. By 30 September 2013, national government had transferred R168.8 billion of the equitable share and R38.5 billion of conditional grants to provinces.
17. A more detailed analysis on the outcome of provincial finances as at 30 September 2013 is set out in Annexure A.
