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Learn about South Africa's economic performance, risks, and achievements presented by National Treasury's Director-General to Finance Parliamentary Committees. Highlights include GDP growth, revenue collection, state-owned enterprises, and infrastructure spending.
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NATIONAL TREASURY BRIEFING TO JOINT MEETING OF FINANCE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES ON 2009/10 ANNUAL REPORT Presenter: Lesetja Kganyago | Director General, National Treasury | 14 October 2010
OVERVIEW: FINANCE MINISTER Highlights • Stronger than expected GDP growth in 1H 2010 followed by moderation • Countercyclical macroeconomic policies, high commodity prices and improving external demand have supported the recovery • Stronger revenue collection by SARS, but expenditure is also still growing • Low inflation supports decline in prime interest rates to lowest level in 30 years • The 2010 FIFA World Cup added about 0.5% to annual growth and contributed roughly R3.6 billion in tax revenues to the fiscus • Employment is stabilising after large job losses during the recession • Investment by state-owned enterprises is growing more moderately off a high base. Total public sector infrastructure spending of R845 billion over the MTEF • The current account narrowed to 3.5% in 1H 2010…. expected to widen gradually over the MTEF as domestic demand and imports rise
OVERVIEW: FINANCE MINISTER Risks • Weaker economic data since July points to slower growth in 2H 2010 • Export volumes still subdued, even after strong bounce in the second quarter • Exchange rate appreciation as capital flows from low-growth developed countries to emerging markets with higher returns reduces competitiveness and poses risk to balanced growth • Strong real wage growth dampens job creation, especially in public sector • Weak private investment due to low capacity utilisation and policy uncertainty • Infrastructure investment challenges for general government • Performance of the state still worrying especially at local government level • Municipal debt increased from R18.3bn in 2008 to R27.5bn in 2009. While this is a low level of aggregate municipal debt, the weak revenue base of many municipalities is a challenge • State debt costs rising from 2.4% in 2009/10 to 3.2% in 2012/13 eating into fiscal resources
Introduction • The National Treasury is responsible for managing South Africa’s national government finances, and draws its mandate from Chapter 2 of the Public Finance Management Act, together with Chapter 13 of the Constitution • We continued to monitor the impact of the global financial crisis and were able to find appropriate responses (interest rates were cut five times, increased the pace of government expenditure etc) • The budget process was enhanced as a result of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Matters Related Act, (Act 9 of 2009) • We increased our capacity by creating a division handling our international and regional economic policy
Major achievements • Credit ratings maintained at BBB+ by Fitch and Standard and Poor’s, while Moody’s upgraded our long-term foreign currency rating to A3 from Baa – demonstrating confidence in our macro-economic and fiscal policies • Debt as a percentage of GDP remained low relative to many developed economies • Infrastructure spend boosted economic activity especially in the construction sector • Created a specialised audit services unit to provide forensic investigation and consultancy services to different entities on tender-related issues • Our financial sector regulatory standards helped ensure that our banking system remained sound and relatively unscathed by global financial crisis
Programme 2: Public Finance & Budget Management (Division 1 – Budget Office) • Ensured that the budget framework for MTBPS and Budget Review were tabled on time and included an estimate of the structural budget balance • Continued to find savings as part of the drive to ensure efficiency in the public sector – will update in October • Notable improvement in the quality of performance information, public entity indicators and consistency of targets especially related to allocations • Introduced a simplified version of the consolidated government account in the 2010 Budget • Produced an updated version of the Reference Guide to the Economic Reporting Format with corresponding classification circulars, used by departments to classify transactions • Increase in the number of reports from departments receiving ODA funding
Programme 2: - continued (Division 2 – Public Finance) • Provided valuable policy analysis on sector-specific and departmental issues • Conducted pre-MTEC meetings with each department to improve the inputs into deliberation of the medium term expenditure committee • Ensured that all national departments have measurable objectives per programme and a selected set of 10-12 service delivery indicators • The consolidated government paper is being further developed following comments received from members of the IDTT for Social Security and Retirement Reform, and the Inter Ministerial Committee • Ongoing work in consultation with the Presidency and other line departments on comprehensive public expenditure review (together with Intergovernmental Relations and Budget Office)
Programme 2: - continued (Division 3 – Intergovernmental Relations) • Published the Provincial Budget and Expenditure Review documents which track sectoral trends in provinces • Published provincial and municipal data within set time frames (PFMA section 32 reports and MFMA section 7 reports) • Finalised the provincial and local budget framework in September 2009 • Implemented financial management reforms in 120 provincial departments (far exceeding the target of 30) • Conducted funding compliance assessment in 17 non-delegated municipalities as part of the NT budget review of these municipalities • Published and tabled a report on municipal over- and under-expenditure (per municipality)
Programme 2: - continued (Technical & Management Support) • The Technical and Management Support group continued to provide valuable technical and project management support to a number of departments • The group is made up of PPP, 2010 WC Unit, IDIP, NDPG & TAU • At the end of the financial year, TAU was supporting 60 projects and had completed seven. Analysis commenced on 5 tertiary hospitals identified by the national Department of Health as potential PPPs • The 2010FIFA World Cup unit provided support to the Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance, the Technical Co-ordination Committee, Inter-Ministerial Committee and Organising Committee, regarding the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup • Through IDIP, 27 full time Technical Assistants were deployed to the 9 provincial education, health and public works departments
Programme 3: Asset & Liability Management • Met government's borrowing needs (R187.4 bn) • Worked to establish a DFI council • Monitored the weekly issuance of SOE bonds in the capital market and followed-up with SOEs that did not receive full subscription of their bonds • Provided financial oversight over Schedule 2 and 3B entities • Assisted in reviewing economic regulation in the electricity and aviation sectors and determining the impact on SOE financial sustainability • Reviewed the strategic benchmark strategy to align the debt portfolio to the risk benchmark of 70/30 fixed vs. non-fixed rate domestic debt • National and provincial governments saved about 3% on borrowing costs by not borrowing from commercial banks
Programme 4: Financial Management & Systems • Introduced strategic sourcing principles to 24 national departments and 5 provincial treasuries (municipalities & constitutional institutions still outstanding). PALAMA responsible for the roll out of comprehensive training strategy • Established the SCM Compliance Monitoring Unit in conjunction with the Office of the Accountant General to detect and fight tender related fraud • Released for public comment draft interim measures to align preferential procurement with the aims of the BBBEE Act and its related strategy (strategy still being discussed) • Roll out of certain modules of the Integrated Financial Management System underway in lead sites - National Treasury and the Limpopo Provincial Treasury have implemented the asset management module. Other modules to follow. Challenges experienced due to the turnaround strategy at SITA not being fully implemented • Renewed 30 of the 32 transversal term contracts due for renewal (total is 59)
Programme 5: Financial Accounting & Reporting • Developed and published 19 GRAP tools and checklists for use by departments • Finalised a strategy to align the cash to accrual implementation plan with the IFMS roll-out plan • Published monthly statements of actual revenue and expenditure for the National Revenue Fund every last working day of each month • Trained 1 334 officials to provide support to provincial treasuries to better prepare provincial consolidated financial statements and provincial revenue fund statements, and implement GRAP standards • Conducted internal audit reviews at 26 municipalities as planned • Assessed financial management skills of 7 496 officials from 283 municipalities
Programme 6: Economic Policy & International Financial Relations (Division 1 – Tax & Financial Sector Policy) • Contributed to discussions in the G-20 and Financial Stability Board • Reviewed the effectiveness of the financial regulatory system in South Africa in collaboration with key financial regulators • Published for comment a framework to modernise Regulation 28 of the Pension Fund Act • Reviewed the strategy to effectively tax financial instruments, limit tax avoidance and create a level playing field for the tax treatment of debt and equity – proposals included in the 2010 Budget e.g. Islamic finance, Interest allocation for financial operations
Programme 6: - continued(Division 2 – International & Regional Economic Policy) • Approved the legal structure to establish SADC's Project Preparation and Development Facility • Compiled policy briefs for meetings of SACU, SADC and the ADB • Completed the ratification of the Agreement of Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative • Co-chaired G20 working groups on International Finance Institution reform and growth and development • Assisted in securing a US$ 3.75 billion WB loan to enable ESKOM’s infrastructure development aimed at increasing power generation in South Africa • Increased coordination and cooperation with other emerging market and developing countries on issues such as the reform of the Bretton Woods Institutions, modalities of G20 engagement and OECD outreach
Programme 6: - continued(Division 3 – Economic Policy) • Improved the quality of macro-economic forecasts for the medium-term expenditure framework • Well developed policy focus for macroeconomics chapters of the MTBPS and Budget Review • Produced a new chapter on employment in the Budget Review • Econometric modeling on: the structural budget balance; the Gini-coefficient and employment; the impact of the exchange rate on the economy; the impact of the World Cup; and the impact of electricity price increases • Policy analysis and advice on: the G-20 mutual assessment process; the international financial crisis; drivers of rand volatility; impact of export taxes on the economy; growth-enhancing policies; assessment of monetary policy frameworks; youth wage subsidy experiment and discussion document on youth employment options; high-frequency analysis of economic indicators • Meetings with domestic and international investors • Meetings with IMF Article IV surveillance team and helped coordinate OECD Economic Survey of South Africa
Programmes 7, 8 and 9 These three programmes are primarily our fiscal transfers programmes • Programme 7 (Provincial and Local Government Transfers) deals with transfers to provinces and municipalities and these were made as planned. Refer to the main document on page 96 • Programme 8 (Civil and Military Pensions) deals with payment and administration of special pensions, military pensions, other statutory pensions, and post-retirement medical subsidiesis the Pensions programme. The administration of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) was separated from the fund and the government component responsible for administering both programme 8 and civil pensions was established. More information is on page 101 • Programme 9 (Fiscal Transfers) refers to transfers made to public authorities and other institutions, including multilateral development banks and international development bodies of which South Africa is a member. See page 106 for transfers made in the 2009/10 financial year
Programme 1: Administration This is the department’s support office which provides Corporate Services, Communications, Legal and Security services to the other programmes. Highlights include: • Vacancy rate reduced to less than 8% (6.75%) • Established an Enterprise Risk Management unit which developed a comprehensive ERM strategy, including a fraud prevention plan, and successfully completed risk assessments for 70 per cent of the department • Ran successful leadership and training programmes, and also exceeded the target of an average 5 training days per annum per employee • The Paper Trail Project was finalised and implemented. A fileplan system was also implemented in 90 per cent of the department and has improved records management • NT profile in the 2009/10 financial year: of total staff component, 56 % female, 78% black. At senior management level, 66% is black, 42% female
Matter of emphasis – AG findings • The irregular expenditure of R2.7 million relates to the previous financial year (2008/09) and not the year of review (2009/10) and has been recorded as such • Due to late extension of a contract of employment agencies providing short term contract staff on demand • To avoid interruption of service provision on existing assignments • On conclusion of new contracts there was an oversight in classifying these as such in the relevant year (2008/09) by line staff • The matter was investigated and appropriate corrective action recommended • Training line staff on the SCM processes and PFMA regulations • No employee personally benefitted from the incident • There was no financial loss to the state resulting from the occurrence • Controls have been reviewed and tightened to detect and/or prevent recurrence