M3 The broadest definition of money supply in South Africa, including notes and coins, demand and fixed deposits, and credit.

Macroeconomics The branch of economics that deals with the whole economy - including issues such as growth, inflation, unemployment and the balance of payments.

Marginal income tax rate The rate of tax on an incremental unit of income.

Marginal lending rate A penalty rate of interest charged by the Reserve Bank for lending to financial institutions in the money market in excess of the daily liquidity provided to the money market at the repurchase rate. See also repurchase agreements.

Marketable securities Tradeable financial securities listed with a securities exchange.

Medium Term Expenditure Committee (MTEC) The technical committee responsible for evaluating the MTEF budget submissions of national departments and making recommendations to the Minister of Finance regarding allocations to national departments.

Medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) The three-year spending plans of national and provincial governments, published at the time of the Budget.

Members' contributions Cash or other assets contributed by members to a close corporation in order to acquire an interest in the corporation

Members' drawings Withdrawals of assets (usually cash or stock) from the close corporation by the members for private use

Members' interests There are no shares in a close corporation only "members' interests". The individual members' interests are expressed as percentages of the total of all members' interests. A member's interest normally represents his/her entitlement to share in the net profit of the corporation, which is not necessarily in the same proportion as the members' contributions.

Members' loans Assets (usually cash) borrowed from the close corporation by the members with the intention of paying back that particular amount in the future

Members' salaries Amounts paid to the members of the close corporation on a monthly basis, for their services to the close corporation. Members' salaries are reserved for members only; general staff salaries are accounted for separately.

Memorandum of Association Governs the dealings of the company with the general public. A special resolution is required to make changes to the Memorandum of Association.

Microeconomics The branch of economics that deals with the behaviour of individual firms, consumers and sectors.

Ministers' Committee on the Budget The political committee that considers key policy and budgetary issues that pertain to the budget process before they are tabled in Cabinet.

MinMEC A MinMEC is a political forum where national and provincial departments in the same sector discuss policy issues. It consists of the national Minister and the nine provincial MECs, supported by key departmental officials.

Monetary policy Policy concerning total money supply, exchange rates and the general level of interest rates.

Money supply The total stock of money in an economy.