eThekwini Municipality (2021-07)
- eThekwini Municipality
- Year : Jul 2021
Summary
eThekwini’s strong financial profile is underpinned by its relatively moderate gearing and high cash holdings. Thus, gross debt has remained in the R8bn to R9bn range over most years under review, with cash holdings trending around R6bn. As the Metro utilised internal resources to meet operating costs during the hard lockdown, cash decreased to around R4.5bn at FY20, although cash holdings have rebounded to around R5.3bn at FY21.
Additional Information
eThekwini is a key hub of economic activity, representing approximately 7% of domestic GDP and just over 60% of the KwaZulu Natal province’s productivity. As home to Africa’s busiest port, it is a strategic gateway to the continent and rest of the world, and has extensive transportation infrastructure, which has been supportive of the establishment/emergence of certain secondary industries and related tertiary services. The Metro continues to draw inward migration, but is seen as losing skilled labour to larger Metros. Its economic growth has also slowed, converging towards weak national metrics, while the tax base has been relatively unchanged over several years.
