This document shows the Rand value of Food Baskets and Non-Food Baskets in Limpopo from January 2015 to September 2015.

This document shows the Rand value of Food Baskets and Non-Food Baskets in the North West from January 2015 to September 2015

The Basic Needs Basket is a monthly survey of the cost of essential food and non- food items that comprise the items that a low income family in both rural and urban areas across the nine provinces of South Africa consider to be basic necessities.

To gain further insight into the scope of a decent standard of living, the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII) in partnership with the Association of Community-based Advice Offices of South Africa (ACAOSA) with support from the Church of Sweden, the Basic Needs Basket project was re-launched in 2014 to monitor, across the 9 provinces of South Africa in both rural and urban areas, frequently purchased items (food and non-food essential items) by lower income households on a monthly basis to ascertain people’s everyday basic needs.

As the fifth Parliament draws to a close, the Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) has opted to develop a submission that provides an overview of the key budgeting trends of the past five years, as well as the impact of these on two elements of the social wage: health and education. The submission also focuses on Parliament’s oversight role in relation to the budget, looks at how budget decisions have been made and provides recommendations to support greater and wider participation by the public in the budget process.

This submission is made in response to the call by National Treasury for public comment on the report by the Panel for the review of the current list of zero-rated VAT items. This submission objects to the February 2018 decision to increase VAT and call on Treasury and Parliament to reconsider this decision.