Increased spending on agriculture
Michael Appel
1 November 2007Funding for the Department of Agriculture will increase by over 5% from R10.7-billion in 2006/07 to R15.4-billion a year by 2010/11, with emphasis being placed on agricultural development, forestry, fishing and land reform, says Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
Delivering the 2007 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament in Cape Town on Tuesday, Manuel said the department's land restitution programme would receive about R3.6-billion for 2007/08, of which some R1.1-billion or 55.2% had already been spent.
The land reform programme's allocation has been revised to R1.7-billion over the same period, with R544.3-million or 33% of the amount already spent in the first six months of the financial year.
He said that R3.4-billion had been allocated for 2007/08 for such purposes as administration, economics and business development, bio-security and disaster management, and sector services and management.
"Expenditure in [Land Affairs for] the first six months of 2007/08 was R2.78-billion, or 46.9% of the adjusted appropriation of R5.92-billion for the year as a whole," the "mini-budget" reads.
"[Their] expenditure in the first six months of 2007/08 increased by 133.3 percent compared to the first six months of 2006/07."
Manuel explained that the increases were as a result of settling claims and acquiring land.
The Treasury said that robust economic growth had brought substantial benefits for South Africa, leading to sustained increases in employment, declining poverty, rising investment, rapid growth in public spending and household welfare gains.
Long-term growth trends, however, showed a shift in the structure of the South African economy away from agriculture and mining and towards the services sector.
"Economic growth remains strong and is projected at 4.9% for the whole of 2007. The most robust activity is concentrated in construction, manufacturing and services," the mini-budget states.
"This is supported by strong domestic demand and rising fixed investment, which has grown by over 15% in the first six months of the year, reaching 20.7% of gross domestic product (GDP)."
General investment by the government is mainly focussed on the built environment, which covers housing, water, sanitation, electrification, schools, health facilities, police stations, roads and public transport.
"This category of public spending has been the single fastest growing area of government expenditure, rising by 19.2% a year in real terms since 2004," Manuel said.
Source: BuaNews
