Each year Statistics SA conducts a survey of capital expenditure by the public sector and organises the data according to the type of expenditure and the category of the public institution spending it.
The results from the latest survey, covering the 2006 financial year, were released on Tuesday.
They show that capital expenditure by public sector institutions increased by a quarter last year, rising from R57.281 billion for financial years that ended during 2005 to R71.828 billion last year.
Four main categories of expenditure are identified: new construction works; machinery, equipment and furniture; land and existing buildings; and other fixed assets, which include intangible, heritage and cultivated assets.
The latest survey records and analyses capital expenditure in 34 national government institutions, 118 provincial departments, 283 local authorities, 25 public corporations, 23 higher education institutions and 204 extra-budgetary accounts and funds.
The response was particularly high, with coverage of 100 percent in all spheres of the public sector except for extra-budgetary funds and accounts, where four of the 204 bodies did not reply.
Capital expenditure covers any spending relating to the acquisition or improvement of land, buildings, engineering structures and machinery and equipment. The expenditure normally confers a lasting benefit and results in the acquisition of a fixed asset or the extension of its life.
Spending on new construction works is of considerable interest to economic analysts, with the building sector currently playing an important role in economic development.
The First National Bank building confidence index rose to 88 points in the second quarter from 87 points in the first, it was reported this week.
This confirmed Stats SA's earlier report that the construction sector expanded by 21.3 percent in the first quarter, the biggest increase posted since the first quarter of 1989.
In addition, Stats SA had previously reported that construction contributed 0.7 percentage point to the seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product growth of 4.7 percent for the first quarter.
According to the latest survey data, expenditure on construction in the public sector increased by 23.1 percent in the 2006 financial year, rising from R38.93 billion in 2005 to R47.93 billion last year.
Of all public institutions, the state-owned enterprises made the largest capital outlay on construction works in both 2005 and 2006, followed by municipalities and provinces. These increases were mainly the result of additional spending on transport infrastructure, non-residential buildings and other construction works by public corporations, provincial and local governments.
After construction, the biggest item on the public sector's capital spending account last year was machinery and equipment (R17.189 billion), followed by land and existing buildings (R4.3 billion), and other fixed assets (R2.409 billion).
The national government contributed most to the 3.4 percent rise in capital spending on machinery and equipment in 2006, followed by provinces, extra-budgetary bodies and municipalities.
Capital expenditure on machinery and equipment by public corporations fell from R8.647 billion in 2005 to R6.369 billion last year, while such spending at higher education institutions held firm at R754 million.
Public capital spending on land and existing buildings grew 149 percent between 2005 and last year.
This increase was driven by public corporations, which expanded their spending fivefold to R1.596 billion last year, while municipalities more than trebled their outlay on land and buildings to R1.168 billion.
Stats SA's economic series has, for some time, recorded an increasing role for construction in the country's economic growth. These latest official financial statistics from the public sector provide an additional perspective on this trend.
- Pali Lehohla is South Africa's statistician-general and the head of Statistics SA. For more information on Stats SA and its statistical outputs, including data on capital expenditure for the public sector in 2006, and projections for 2007 to 2009, visit www.statssa.gov.za, or contact user services on (012) 310-8600