Despite all these constraints provinces have put a substantial effort into reprioritising expenditures focusing on improving management and delivery systems, implementing better financial management systems and greater efficiency and effectiveness overall. Most provinces have been able to establish a solid base on which to build transparent and successful fiscal management. This is evidenced by the fact that most provinces will not overrun their budgets. Ultimately our shared objective is to ensure that our fiscal framework contains a transparent public expenditure management system including improved mechanisms for financial control, reporting and accounting, and the evaluation of expenditure programmes. However, there are problems.
Some provinces face irredeemable differences between revenue and expenditure.
These differences cannot be dealt with through bridging finance. Rather they require structural changes which require both time and substantial capacity. The spirit of co-operative governance means that our collective efforts should go in to ensuring that all three spheres of government function efficiently and effectively. Collectively we cannot ignore structural problems and in the process weaken one or other sphere of government. The integrity of the overall fiscal system depends on our ability to understand that the Budget is a law in each sphere of government and that we all have an obligation to live within our budgets.