KZN gets biggest budget transfer

Cape Town - KwaZulu-Natal receives the largest budget of all the provinces in terms of equitable share, according to Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene's 2015/16 budget tabled in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The province would receive R82.2bn for 2015/16, followed by Gauteng with R73.4bn and the Eastern Cape with R54.3bn.

Limpopo would receive R45.3bn, the Western Cape R38.2bn, Mpumalanga R31bn and the North West R26.1bn.

The provinces with the lowest budgets were the Free State with R21.7bn and the Northern Cape with R10.1bn.

In total, provincial governments were allocated 42.9% of nationally raised revenue in 2015/16, compared to 43.4% the previous financial year.

Infrastructure grants

According to the 2015 Budget Review document, the growth rate of the equitable share depended on population growth and demand for services.

As an example, Gauteng had experienced significant in-migration and thus had the fastest-growing equitable share. The slowest-growing equitable share was that of the Free State.

Provinces would receive conditional grants over the medium-term to the value of R274bn.

Growth in some priority grants - such as the education infrastructure grant; the comprehensive HIV/Aids grant and the community library services grant - exceeded 12% a year.

Provinces also generated their own revenue, with over half of the money coming from motor vehicle licences.

Local governments had been allocated 9.1% of available funds (or R99.7bn).