Appropriations Bill [B3-2012]: briefing by National Treasury on the; Consideration and adoption of the Appropriation Bill [B3-2012] Report.

Meeting report

National Treasury presentation on Appropriations Bill [B3-2012]
Dr Kay Brown, Chief Director for Budget Planning in National Treasury, explained that the 2012 Appropriations Bill was tabled in Parliament at the time of the Budget. The Bill provided for the appropriation of money from the National Revenue Fund in terms of section 213 of the Constitution, 1996 and section 15 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 1999. Spending was subject to the PFMA and the provisions of the Appropriations Bill itself.

Parliament was asked to pass the Bill so that the President could assent to it and the Act could be promulgated before the end of July. This was necessary, as prior to that, departments would need to incur expenditure in terms of section 29 of the PFMA which made provision for spending before an annual budget was passed:
Up to July, expenditure may not exceed 45% of the 2011/12 financial year budget
After July, monthly expenditure can only amount to 10% of the 2011/12 budget
Departmental activities may thus be constrained should there be delays in the Appropriation Act coming into effect

The Bill was divided by vote and by main division within a vote (i.e. by programme)
An aim was set out for each vote and a purpose was set out for each programme
Allocations were categorised in terms of:
Current payments
•Compensation of employees
•Goods and Services
•Other
Transfers and subsidies
Payments for capital assets
Payments for financial assets

The 2012 Budget made R83 billion available for new allocations to programmes over the 2012 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period. This included baseline reductions amounting to R27 billion. Of this, R9.2 billion resulted from a general budget baseline reduction of 0.4 per cent on provincial and national departments and entities, and R17.8 billion was identified through a national budget baseline reprioritisation effort.

The presentation further outlined the plan for efficient and effective spending which included such plans as provincial and national departments and public entities being asked to identify areas of inefficient and non-priority expenditure. It covered the consolidated expenditure be economic classification as well as infrastructure investment, key national baseline additions for 2012/13, gross additional allocations: Central Government Administration, financial and administrative services, financial and administrative services and social services, justice crime prevention and security and economic services and infrastructure.

Report of the Select Committee on Appropriations on the Appropriation Bill [B3-2012]
The Select Committee on Appropriations, having considered the Appropriation Bill [B3 – 2012], referred to it, and classified by the Joint Tagging Mechanism as a section 77 Bill, reported that it had agreed to the Bill without amendments.