Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 27 2012 11:49
The country's 200 000-odd Tupperware agents are angry about the counterfeit products being sold as the real McCoy.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Pretoria - Spending on the state interest bill is far and away the expenditure item that will grow the most over the next three years, with average annual growth of 18.1% expected from 2009/10 to 2012/13.
The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement showed overall consolidated government expenditure is set to grow by 7.8% over the same period. While this is higher than the expected inflation rate, it reflects cutbacks in real non-interest spending which had been rising by 9% a year in real terms since 2003. But the surge in state debt costs has made the continuation of spending at this rate impossible.
Government's biggest spending priority, judged by increases in spending, is for housing and community amenities, which is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 12.3%.
Public order and safety, including police, is expected to grow at 9.3% and environmental protection at 10%.
The cutbacks in spending come at economic affairs, which are projected to decline by 3.8% over the framework period. Transport will fall by 2%.
- Fin24.com