The global economic structure that is currently undergoing tectonic changes will stand Africa in good stead. That was said by the Chief Executive Officer of the Pan African Capital Holding, Dr Iraj Abedian. He was speaking at the Economic Policy Dialogue session that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Midrand, yesterday.
"The global economic structure is undergoing tectonic changes. Africa, and the Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, are set for sustainable development over the next two decades because the global capital markets are particularly favourable for Africa’s sustained development," said Abedian.
He added that Africa had considerable industrialisation potential in mineral development and beneficiation, energy and related industrial complex, agriculture and agri-industries, as well as in economic infrastructure with regional focus.
"In South Africa in particular there are two key elements that are critical for a complete integrated approach towards mineral beneficiation. These are the role of the financial sector and the contribution of commodity exchanges. These two components are critical if South Africa wants to maximise the socio-economic impact of mineral beneficiation within an overlapping generation framework," said Abedian.
He warned that there were numerous serious constraints and challenges at play that threaten to undermine Africa's considerable industrialisation potential. These include the lack of alignment and coordination in legislation and policy, under-developed capital markets, sluggish and slow infrastructure development, corruption and "colonial" and fragmented political mindsets.
The Director-General of the dti, Mr Lionel October said the department introduced the economic policy dialogues with the purpose of raising the level of debate about the country’s economic challenges. October said the economic debate in South Africa was sometime adversarial, ideological and superficial. He added that African countries had a lot to do as intra-regional trade in Africa still stood at 10%.
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