Eastern Cape Finance MEC, Sakhumzi Somyo says projected receipts for the new financial year amount to R74.6 billion. He tabled his budget in the Bhisho Legislature on Thursday afternoon.
According to the budget document, the 2017/2018 provincial receipts consist of R61.8 billion in equitable share from the national government, R11.29 billion in conditional grants and R1.5 billion in provincial income, which accounts for two percent of the total budget.
Speaking to the media ahead of his budget presentation, Somyo lamented the fact that the Eastern Cape had lost a total of R10.1 billion of provincial equitable share since 2013 as a result of the impact of the census on the equitable share formula.
Meanwhile, the lion's share of the budget once again went to the Departments of Health and Education, which combined swallow up more than 70% of the provincial budget.
MEC Somyo allocated R32.9 billion to the Bhisho Education Department for the new financial year or just over 44% of the total budget.
The Department of Health received R21.7 billion or 29.2% of the total budget allocation for the 2017/2018 financial year.
MEC Somyo's also doled out R2.6 billion each to the Departments of Social Development and Human Settlements.
He was very clear on the burning issue of under-expenditure of budgets and said money would very rarely be allocated to projects in the planning stages, but rather to projects which are ready to be implemented. He hopes this will ensure that under-expenditure becomes a thing of the past.
