E Molewa on economy in State of the Province Address

13 February 2009

North West Premier, Edna Molewa, says though the province cannot escape the
current global financial crisis, it will, however, weather the storm and
achieve its vision of achieving an annual 6,6 percent economic growth.

The Premier said this on Friday in her State of the Province Address, during
the opening of the provincial legislature.

“There is a drastic global slowdown in economic activity, especially in the
mining, manufacturing, technological and industrial sectors. This is bound to
affect some of our industries, but we believe that the multi-sectoral nature
and diversity of our economy should see us through. We cannot escape some of
the seismic movements of the world economy, but we dare not to panic. We must
stay the course,” said optimistic Molewa.

Molewa said government, labour, civil society and business needed to
consider the grave challenge of the world economy and come up with ways and
means of strengthening and supporting key sectors of the economy to avert
massive job losses which may be brought by the current global economic
crunch.

According to Molewa, the mining sector which currently contributes 25,8
percent of the provinces Gross Domestic Products(GDP), remains key contributor
to provincial economy, but the province needs to buoy other sector such as
agriculture and tourism.

Molewa said with mining sector currently being the hardest hit by the global
economic turmoil, the province has to strengthen performance of sectors such as
agriculture and tourism to mitigate adverse effects of the fall in mineral
prices.

“Part of the attraction of agriculture and tourism is their capacity to
absorb all skill levels, and therefore strengthen our job creation capacity.
Agriculture shows the best employment ratio in the province and tourism is
particularly important in the light of the countdown to 2010. Tourism is one of
the industries to we can leverage to confront economic hardships,” she
said.

Agriculture contributes 2.8 percent of the provincial GDP and accounts to 18
percent of the province’s workforce.

The Premier indicated that the province had entered into strategic
partnerships with tourism enterprise programme and the grading council to
ensure maximum contribution by the sector to the province’s GDP. The
partnership is aimed at ensuring that tourist attraction sites and
establishments offer the best and quality products and services so as to be
more competitive.

“Beyond tourism, we have identified the creation of and support for new and
emerging Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprise (SMMEs) as a job creation
intervention to reduce our high levels of poverty and draw previously
disadvantaged people into the mainstream economy,” she added.

She further stated that the economic growth over the years had been steady,
with the province registering the fourth highest average growth rate in the
country, reaching 4,9 percent in 2005.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
13 February 2009