IN THE SPOTLIGHT: 2026 MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: 2026 MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

• 31 July 2025
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

On 23 July 2025, National Treasury issued a media statement with the latest set of technical guidelines for a rolling three-year medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) informed each year by the previous budget cycle. According to the statement, the 2026 guidelines ‘outline key actionable reforms’ to be implemented in anticipation of preparing the 2026/27 Budget. Their introductory section notes that they were developed in the context of:

• ‘competing priorities’
• ‘limited fiscal space’, and
• budget process limitations that include:
  • fragmented decision-making
  • poor policy-budget alignment, and
  • weak consensus on trade-offs.

The guidelines are expected to clarify various ‘challenges’ associated with addressing these issues.

Traditionally released annually, the MTEF technical guidelines set the rules and process for preparing actual MTEF allocations, revenue projections and expenditure estimates typically published later in the year as part of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

This is noting that MTEF guidelines are:

• intended for use by all national departments, their associated provincial departments, constitutional institutions and public entities, and
• are particularly relevant to the senior public sector officials ‘responsible for the strategic planning, costing, and execution of budgets’ (2026 guidelines, page 1), namely:
  • accounting officers
  • accounting authorities
  • chief financial officers, and
  • programme managers.

The 2026 guidelines introduce ‘targeted and responsible savings’, informed by previous spending review findings. This ‘new mechanism’ is ‘intended to identify and remove low-priority or underperforming programmes from the budget to reduce aggregate expenditure’. Where appropriate, the funds concerned are to be reallocated to programmes prioritised in government’s medium-term development plan. This marks a departure from previous approaches.

• 2026 technical guidelines
• media statement

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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