ON THE MONEY
PETER ATTARD MONTALTO: Let’s get real about infrastructure spending in real terms
The government trumpets that expenditure has turned around, but it is about 30% lower than before
The government has had a torrid time in the past five years trying to turn the infrastructure tanker. While there has been some change, it’s been slow. The Infrastructure Fund is a positive example but it too encountered the long-standing problems of project ill-preparedness or a lack of bankability. The investment and infrastructure office in the presidency clearly hasn’t delivered on its mandate to decisively shift infrastructure to a new level.
The data on infrastructure is instructive. The government has trumpeted that spending has turned around in recent years. We have seen nominal spending of R255bn in the current fiscal year, 36% above (pre-Covid-19) 2019/2020. That is after it dropped about 20% from 2015/2016 to 2020/2021. Spending is now back above that level, which sounds like a good news story. But there are some issues, as seen in the accompanying graphs...
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