5. THE MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK

1 15. THE MEDIUM TERMEXPENDITUREFRAMEWORK MEDIUM TERM BUDGET PLANNINGThe MEDIUM Term EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK (MTEF) sets out three-yearspending plans of the national and provincial governments. It aims to ensurethat budgets reflect Government's social and economic priorities and givesubstance to Government's reconstruction and development MTEF is one of the most important reforms of the budgetary process thisGovernment has of the MTEFThe benefits of the MEDIUM term EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK are: allocation of resources to priority services; more efficient planning and management; a FRAMEWORK within which policy proposals can be assessed; more transparency in government; a reduction in roll-overs.

2 And a clear demonstration of how fiscal targets will be and MEDIUM term planning is essential for the transformation of South Africanreprioritisationsociety. Transformation requires the reprioritisation of resources in favour ofthe previously disadvantaged, providing access to basic services where it wasnot provided before. The Reconstruction and Development Fund was createdin 1994/95 to promote reprioritisation. RDP programmes have since been fullyintegrated into the budgets of provinces and national departments.

3 The MTEF supports this ongoing reprioritisation while providing stability and certaintywithin the budget choicesBecause resources are limited, Government has to make choices about therelative priorities of different services. These are political and social the past, the budgetary process was largely technical, giving political officebearers insufficient opportunity to shape spending plans. The MTEF changesthis. It articulates choices systematically and comprehensively by linking theChapter 5: The MEDIUM Term EXPENDITURE Framework2amount of funds spent on a service with the quality and quantity of the serviceprovided.

4 Government is able to assess the costs and benefits of competingpriorities and policies. The MTEF enhances the transparency of the budgetprocess and budget documentation so that policy goals and resource allocationare clearly set out. In this way it empowers Government to determinepriorities and deliver Improved efficiency is fundamental to the delivery of more and betterimprovementsservices to South African society. Government will not have transformedSouth Africa until it has delivered better housing, sound education, basichealth care, a welfare support network for those who have no other means ofsupport, proper roads to underpin the economy and effective protectionagainst crime.

5 To achieve this, substantial efficiency improvements in servicedelivery are required. The MTEF provides an initial analysis of the efficiencyof service delivery and indicates areas which demand more attention. Bylinking inputs to outputs, the MTEF makes it the responsibility of bothnational and provincial departments to demonstrate the efficiency with whichSouth Africa s scarce resources are budgetsThe MTEF initiates a process of rolling three-year budgets. The projectionspublished in this year s Budget Review will be revised in the course of 1998after taking into account new information and policy priorities.

6 This year'sthree-year allocations will be the starting point for that process, anddepartments will therefore have agreed spending trajectories within which toplan. Future policy proposals will need to be budgeted for within the resourceenvelopes implied by the MTEF. Enabling departments to enter into forwardcommitments without committing the entire amount in the first year of aproposed project should reduce the need to carry unspent balances from oneyear to the to budgetsOnce Parliament has voted on the budget allocations for the year ahead, theybecome law and it becomes the responsibility of the Accounting Officers,appointed by political office-bearers.

7 To ensure that the budgets are adhered from the agreed allocations is both illegal and tantamount toflouting the democratic decision-making Parliament has the power to agree to additional spending. This principlewill be enforced by the proposed Treasury Control Bill to be introduced inParliament this year, which will replace the ten Exchequer Acts that governprovincial and national financial will be expected in future to frame their policy proposals withintheir three-year allocations and requests for additional funds will be deferredand considered together in the subsequent budget process so that acomprehensive and informed assessment of priorities can take 1997/98 fiscal year has seen the introduction of the intergovernmentalfinancial relationsfinancial system prescribed by the

8 New Constitution. Each sphere ofgovernment is responsible for drawing up a budget which reflects its prioritiesand which comes within the overall budgetary envelope. The tool forimplementing and coordinating the new intergovernmental financial system isthe MTEF. It provides both an analytical and operational FRAMEWORK for thenew financial system and facilitates coordination and communication betweenthe 5: The MEDIUM Term EXPENDITURE Framework3 MTEF processThe MTEF process began in May 1997 when Cabinet adopted a set of indicative allocations for the nine provinces and national government.

9 Theallocations were based on the macroeconomic projections made at that time,together with a proposed revenue sharing model, drawing onrecommendations from the Financial and Fiscal Commission. A reserve wasset aside at the beginning of the process to enable Government to meetcontingencies and specific policy priorities without compromising theproposed budgets of other services. The provincial and national departmentscompiled draft MTEFs consisting of three-year costings of their policies andprogrammes.

10 These spending proposals were put to the Minister of Financeand Cabinet for consideration. Through the prioritisation of programmes,these bids for funds were brought within the overall budget constraint beforecompiling the final sectoral teamsSix MTEF sectoral teams brought national and provincial officials together toexamine EXPENDITURE options and policy implications. The analysis producedby these teams informed the MTEF submissions to Cabinet. By providing anassessment of the implications of the proposed budgets, Cabinet wasempowered to make informed decisions about the allocation of resources andwas able to ensure that resources were directed at the identified high priority initiatives were identified in finalising the were then directed at these priority commitments.