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Local Government Capital Expenditure (LGCE) Dataset December 2024

Commentary 2nd Quarter 2024/25 (as at December 2024): Local governments reduce actual capital expenditure by 3 percent y-y in the first two quarters of the 2024/25 financial year

With the exception of a few provinces, such as Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape, all other provinces recorded lower capital investment by local municipalities for the first half of the 2024/25 financial year (as at December 2024). This does not come as a surprise considering that aggregate local government capital budgets increased by less than 1 percent y-y (nominal) in 2024/25.  Measured in rand terms, the Western Cape recorded the overall best performance, despite having spent only 35 percent of the annual budgetary allocations in the first six months.  This does compare favourably with other provinces, with an average national expenditure rate of 32 percent and Gauteng at a below average 22 percent.  Aggregated local government expenditure in Gauteng fell by 22 percent y-y (or R851m) despite the above average 2.2 percent increase in the 2024/25 Budget. Expenditure in Kwazulu Natal also showed a double digit decline, as budgetary allocations were cut by nearly R2bn in 2024/25.

Please note these figures exclude Ngaka Modiri in the North West Province that posted a R10bn correction related to capital expenditure in the executive council, water and waste water management and planning and development for Q2 2024/25 (December 2024).

Capital Expenditure on Infrastructure Related items (housing, education, health, roads, energy and water): Local governments in Gauteng performed poorly, as actual aggregated expenditure declined by 30 percent y-y with regards to the items mentioned above, and spent just under 22 percent of the 2024/25 Budget. By comparison the Western Cape increased expenditure by 25 percent y-y, with double digit increases in capital expenditure on health, housing, roads, and waste water management. Despite a more than 30 percent increase in housing and waste management, local governments in Kwazulu Natal recorded an overall 2 percent y-y decline as at December 2024. Please note that Eastern Cape comparisons are distorted due to regular corrections implemented by Nelson Mandela Bay.

Full details are provided in the Local Government Capital Expenditure Dataset. For further assistance please do not hesitate to contact our offices

 

Introduction

The LGCE Dataset includes capital and other related expenditure across all 257 Local Governments for the full 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024//25 financial periods, updated on a quarterly basis.

• Capital and other related expenditure details across all 275 Municipalities
• Local government capital expenditure aggregated by province for "infrastructure related items" such as housing, health, roads, energy and water,  is also included for periods 2017/18 - 2024/25, updated quarterly, allowing for a 7 year trend line to monitor actual performance against budgetary allocations.
• An easy to use interactive Dashboard is also included to extract information on a selected municipality including tables and charts. 
• The main objective of the Local Government Capital Expenditure Dataset, is to track local government performance, benchmark performance against other local governments and identify growth opportunities.  The performance of a metro, DC or local government directly impacts investment opportunities and the attractiveness for investors and monitoring performance in terms of capital expenditure is therefore critical to identify longer term growth opportunities.

The following quarterly indicators are currently included for all municipalities:

• Operating Revenue
• Operating Expenditure
• Capital Expenditure Functional
• Capital Expenditure as % of total expenditure
• Capital Expenditure on key focus areas
  • Housing
  • Health
  • Energy Sources
  • Road Transport
  • Water Management
  • Waste Management
  • Waste Water Management
• Employee Related Costs
• Employee Related Costs % of Operating Revenue
• Employee Related Costs % of Operating Expenditure
• Source of Finance for Capital Revenue
  • Internally generated funds (Rands)
  • Internally generated funds as % of total capital revenue
  • Borrowing
• Surplus/Deficit (Rands)
• Surplus/Deficit % of Total Operating Revenue
• Debtors Age Analysis (Total and exceeding 90 days)
• Creditors Age Analysis (Total and exceeding 90 days)

Information is sourced through various documents released by National Treasury.  Local governments are divided by Metro’s, District Councils and Local Government for all nine provinces including Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State and North West Province.

Full quarterly actual and projected revenue and expenditure details are provided by province for metro's, district councils and local governments. 

 

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