Much of last year’s budget still unspent

The finance department says almost 60% of last year's budget surplus is a result of under spending

Economists say South Africa's acute skills shortage is negatively affecting Government’s ability to spend hundreds of millions of rands, earmarked for service delivery and development.

As the Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, prepares to deliver the 2008/9 budget on Wednesday, much of last year's money remains unspent. The finance department says almost 60% of last year's budget surplus is as a result of under spending.

Director of Econometrix, Azar Jammine, says most of the money set aside for development does not see the light of day. Jammine says this is because of, what he terms, Government's inability to take decisions to implement spending plans.

Results of a recent survey show that, by December last year, the Home Affairs Department was falling way behind in spending, followed by Public Works and Foreign Affairs.

The Democratic Alliance says the vacancy rate for high skilled individuals stands at more than 26 000. Last week, Government disputed its own vacancy rate figures, which stood at more than 300 000.