Cape Town - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel yesterday refused to be drawn on what the revised cost of the multibillion-rand arms procurement package might now be as a result of escalation and the depreciation in the rand.

The last cost estimate R43bn, up from the original R30bn was contained in February's budget documents. Since then the slide in the value of the rand has led to speculation that the current cost of the package is more than R66bn.

Manuel said at a news conference before delivering his medium-term budget policy statement that there was no current cost estimate. It would be provided next February when the new budget was tabled.

The policy statement simply said "proposed allocations to defence increased over the medium term to accommodate the impact of higher-than-expected depreciation of the rand on the costs of the strategic arms package", and to pay for the SA National Defence Force in regional peacekeeping activities. He tabled an additional appropriation of R119,8m for defence spending.