As indicated in section 2.1 above, the projected revenue for the 2011/12 financial year amounts to R814.2 billion, which is 7.4 per cent higher compared to the 2010/11 outcome of R758.4 billion and 27.3 per cent as a percentage of 2011/12 gross domestic product (GDP). The 2011/12 government expenditure is projected to amount to R978.8 billion. Therefore, the expenditure is projected to exceed revenue by R164.6 billion -creating a budget deficit of 5.5 per cent as a percentage of GDP. The government debt cost is projected to rise to R76.9 billion, which is 2.6 per cent of GDP and 7.9 per cent of the total projected expenditure. Nevertheless, the consolidated budget deficit is projected, in the medium term, to decrease from 5.5 per cent in the 2011/12 financial year to 3.3 per cent in the 2014/15 financial year.