This publication covers the period since the start of democracy in 1994. Previous supplements of this nature covered the period from 1946 to 1993.  In this supplement a narrative on developments in government finance is combined with comprehensive statistical tables on the subject. The first part of the document briefly describes and analyses the main developments related to South Africa’s fiscal policy, national government expenditure, revenue, fiscal balance, and its financing, national government debt, general government finance and the non-financial public-sector borrowing requirement over the 19-year period. The second part deals with the statistics, starting off with a note that illuminates the framework underlying the government finance statistics compiled for South Africa before presenting the actual statistical tables covering the period from 1994 to 2012.This supplement is based on the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001), a macroeconomic statistical framework published by the IMF. The IMF developed methodologies for the compilation of statistics that set a sound standard for the compilation and presentation of statistics for government. The main focus of the coverage of the GFSM 2001 system is the general government sector, including all the institutional units that perform the functions on behalf of government as their primary activity.