Medium term budget discussions focus on maintaining service delivery despite severe budget cuts
13 October 2020
Yesterday we concluded the Provincial Government Medium Term Expenditure Committee (PG MTEC) 1 engagements, which are critical budget discussions hosted by Provincial Treasury ahead of the 2020 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
During PG MTEC 1, Provincial Treasury engaged with 13 provincial departments and 9 provincial entities over four days deep-diving into the many projects and initiatives we plan to deliver over the next three years, taking into account the fiscal challenges we face as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, tabled the Main Budget in March, it has been clear that due to the mismanagement of the economy and public finances by national government, together with the significant resources that have been re-allocated to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, the cuts facing provinces will be more severe than ever before.
In anticipation of the PG MTEC 1 engagements and the anticipated cuts facing provinces, Provincial Treasury set strict fiscal targets for each department. While these are broad and preliminary, they have allowed us to assess the impact that these cuts might have across our departments and entities in the Western Cape.