Social protection to get bulk of Budget
SO-CALLED constitutionally mandated social rights got about two-thirds of this year’s national Budget, in line with the priorities of the National Development Plan (NDP), according to the National Treasury.
In the 2017 Budget Review, the Treasury said the bulk of the Budget would go to water, housing, health care, education and social security.
The department said social protection expenditure was set to rise from R164.9 billion in 2016/17 to R209.1bn by 2019/20, growing at an annual average of 8.2 percent over the medium term.
“The government aims to provide a social safety net for all South Africans, particularly the young, elderly and disabled, and to standardise social welfare practices as highlighted in the NDP,” the Treasury said.
It said early childhood development services for children up to four years had grown over the past five years but only half of the 2.4 million children from poor households meant to benefit were accessing the services.
The Treasury said social grant beneficiaries were expected to reach 18.1 million by the end of 2019/20.
It said the child support grant would reach an estimated 12.8 million beneficiaries, while the state old age grant would reach 3.6 million beneficiaries.
“Due to increases in beneficiary numbers and inflationary adjustments to grant amounts, expenditure on grants is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 8.2 percent over the medium term, reaching R175bn in 2019/20,” it said.
The Treasury said the state old age grant was expected to increase by R95 in 2017/18, from R1 505 to R1 600, while the foster care and child support grants were expected to increase by R30 and R25, respectively.