Budget 2018: What you need to know
Updated | By Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba presented his much anticipated 2018 budget speech on Wednesday.
![Budget pic](https://turntable.kagiso.io/images/budget.width-800.jpg)
Gigaba told Parliament that government is expecting economic growth of 1.5% in 2018 which will rise to 2.1% by 2020.
But he also says government still faces a revenue gap of R48.2 billion in the current financial year.
The announcement by government that it will start providing fee free higher education has forced Treasury to make adjustments.
"Over the next three years, the spending framework includes, expenditure reductions approved by cabinet amounting to R85 billion. An allocation of R57 billion for fee-free higher education and training, and additions to the contingency reserve amounting to R10 billion," Gigaba told parliament.
ALSO READ: R57 billion set aside for free tertiary education
On tax, Gigaba announced the increase of value-added tax (VAT) from 14% to 15%, the first time since 1993.
![Tax Proposals for 2018/19](https://turntable.kagiso.io/images/Tax_proposals.original.png)
Here is a breakdown of how government will be spending public funds in 2018/19
![Loading...](https://create.piktochart.com/loading.gif)
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