Question NW1426 to the Minister of Finance
24 August 2020 - NW1426
Schreiber, Dr LA to ask the Minister of Finance
(1)What is the total cumulative amount of money spent on bailouts for state-owned entities since 27 April 1994; (2) whether he will provide a breakdown of the amount spent annually on bailouts for state-owned entities during each financial year since 27 April 1994; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) whether he will provide a breakdown of the total cumulative amount spent on bailouts for Eskom, SA Airways, Denel, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, PetroSA, the SA Broadcasting Corporation, SA Post Office and Transnet since 27 April 1994; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The total cumulative amount of money spent on state-owned entities (SOE)recapitalisations and bailouts from 2000/01 to 2019/20 is R187.4 billion. The information was derived from the ENE databases for the years where the classification was clearly indicated and is thus, at this stage, not available from 27 April 1994.Furthermore, National Treasury followed Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA)[1] economic classifications in compiling the data and focused on the classification for “payment of financial assets”, this excludes indemnities, guarantees and other contingent support provided to SOEs during this time that may be interpreted as a bailout.
2. The breakdown of amounts spent annually on bailouts andrecapitalisations from 2000/01on SOEsis provided in annexure A. At this stage the information is not available dating back to 27 April 1994.
3. The breakdown of the total cumulative amount spent on bailouts and recapitalisations to Eskom, South African Airways, Denel, South African Broadcasting Corporation, South African Post office and South African Postbank from 2000/01 to 2019/20 is included in Annexure A.At this stage the information is not available dating back to 27 April 1994.
[1]Standard Chart of Accounts (SCOA) is used by departments and provinces to classify their transactions