CAPE TOWN, Oct 29 (AFP) - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said Friday good financial discipline made almost two billion rand (333 million dollars) extra available to the South African economy this year, much of it for development.

Manuel presented to parliament proposed adjustments to the budget released in February and pointed to a strengthening economy helped by reduced national debt and government savings.

"We anticipate that national budget revenue will be 1.9 billion rand (316 million dollars) more than the February budget estimate... ," Manuel said.

He proposed the release of an extra 450 million rand (75 million dollars) for poverty relief, infrastructure investment and job creation projects, bringing the total allocation for these projects this year to one billion rand (170 million dollars).

Manuel said an extra 1.7 billion rand (280 million dollars) was available for the provincial and local governments. This is likely to go mainly to health, education and other public services.

Another 1.7 billion rand was available for "unavoidable" costs, such as 250 million rand (42 million dollars) for salary increases for the public service, which was on a protracted wage strike this year.

He said lower interest on shrinking state debt and government department cutbacks had led to savings of nearly 1.6 billion rand (270 million dollars).

Manuel's proposed adjustments to the budget are to be debated by parliament next week.

The minister projected a budget deficit of below 2.8 percent, a substantial drop from the 3.5 percent projected earlier this year.

This and increased revenues meant an extra 7.5 billion rand (1.25 billion dollars) would be available for public services in 2000/01 and beyond, he said.

Piorities for next year would include increased spending on the criminal justice system and fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country, which has among the world's highest rate of new infections.

Improvements in education, poverty relief and job creation, and contributions to resolving conflicts on the continent were other priorities, Manuel said.

"Over the past five years we have concentrated on developing sound, progressive social economic policies and legislation.

"Now we need to focus on accelerating service delivery and implementing programmes that will build a 'better life' for all people in our country," Manuel said.

He projected a growth rate of over 3.0 percent for the economy over the next three years, a dramatic improvement on last year's under 1.0 percent, accompanied by further drops in inflation and interest rates.

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