The Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa (CEGAA) points out that the overall share of health spending allocated to fighting HIV/AIDS is growing steadily. They ask therefore that the government should assess whether HIV and AIDS is crowding out other health expenditures, as this may affect the overall mobilisation and utilisation of funding for health in general. Click here to read their analysis of this issue.

In its response to budget 2012, Idasa argues that the government is banking on a global recovery and stronger growth in the medium term. They suggest that should South Africa not get the growth which this budget assumes, and if tax revenue recovery remains poor,South Africa will face a set of difficult choices in the next few years. Click here to read their response to the budget.

The Civil Society call for Budget Justice makes a case for a more progressive tax regime and greater government spending on public services, basic needs, public sector jobs, and climate change. Click here to read the rest of the call.

The International Budget Partnership comments on recent trends in government budget transparency. They argue that government could be rewarded with improved credit ratings, greater electoral support and improved service delivery  if it supplemented its macro level budget transparency with a greater responsiveness to specific requests for information. Click here to read more.

Postscript: After publishing this post, Derek Luyt at the Public Service Accountability Monitor pointed out to me that Sangonet actually published budget comments from 22 CSOs! Click here to see them all.