Education gets biggest slice of Budget

FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan could be delivering his last Budget on Wednesday as speculation mounts about a successor in the corridors of Parliament.

Gordhan has been delivering austerity budgets for the past few years as the government struggles to grow the economy.

The economy has been growing at a rate of below 4% over the past 10 years.

Last year’s growth is projected at 0.3%, despite earlier forecasts of 1.5%.

However, sluggish growth is not the only issue that will affect the budget. Gordhan has to strike a balancing act in his budget.

The government has been trying to raise more revenue, and last year even proposed a sugar tax to generate more revenue.

The more than R1.2 trillion has many competing needs, and President Jacob Zuma outlined key projects in his State of the Nation Address that need to be met.

Education has become the single biggest expenditure item in the budget.

Figures from the National Treasury showed a few months ago, during the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, that education was the highest item on the budget.

Education consumes about one-fifth of the budget, and is followed by health.

Redirected

Zuma said in the Sona address that R32 billion had been redirected from other functions of the state to fund higher education.

The foundation phase has also been said to be key for the development of schoolchildren up to university level.

Despite the expected allocation in higher education, Gordhan will also stick to fiscal discipline.

Financial prudence has been his focus over the past few years, and he is expected to order more cuts in public spending.

The expenditure ceiling is currently at R25bn, and Gordhan will stick to the cuts.

The finance minister will further expand on the R847bn in infrastructure development.

This is one of the mega-projects of the state, and Zuma signed into law the Infrastructure Development Bill three years ago to cut out red tape in government and fast-track these mega projects.

Zuma also set up the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission to oversee these projects.

Local government is one sphere of government that has been crying out for more money.

Local government gets only 10% from the fiscus, but municipalities and Parliament have been asking for more money from the Treasury.

It was doubtful Gordhan would give more money to municipalities despite many of them struggling to survive.