South Africa and other African countries need to diversify their economies – Minister Davies
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says South Africa and other countries on the continent need to diversify their economies in order to respond to the economic challenges faced by countries all over the world. Minister Davies was speaking at a members' luncheon hosted by the South African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Johannesburg today.
“It is not a secret that we are facing very tough challenges in the economy of South Africa. Most of the challenges come from developments in the world economy over which we have no influence. As a result of structural changes taking place particularly in China we have a very sharp reduction in demand for mineral commodities resulting in various countries experiencing a sharp contraction in their growth rates including us and many other countries in the African continent,” said Minister Davies.
He emphasised that the current economic challenges underscore the fact that South Africa and other countries in the African continent need to diversify their economies.
“Diversification should follow the path of industrialisation. Industrialisation means that we have to open ourselves to opportunities and investments coming from leading companies around the world applying highly robotised and digitised production methods,” said Minister Davies.
He added that the SA government have taken a decision that to work more strongly in partnership with the private sector. This, he said, was illustrated by the meeting of organised labour, business and government hosted by President Jacob Zuma earlier in Pretoria earlier the day with the aim of brainstorming solutions economic challenges that the country is contending with.
Davies reiterated that government was registering noticeable progress in the implementation of the Nine Point Plan that was announced by President Zuma last year with the aim of reigniting economic growth and creating jobs. One of the objectives of the plan is achieve a more effective implementation of a higher impact Industrial Policy Action Plan.
Minister Davies also told the chambers members about the establishment of Invest SA, a one-stop shop agency aimed at providing efficient service to private companies looking at investing in South Africa.
“As part of the work to be done by Invest SA, we are currently looking at thirty priority investment projects and how we can make the road smoother for the implementation of those investment projects,” announced Minister Davies
He added that government has also put proper systems and processes in place to ensure that registering a business in South Africa was simpler, easier and quicker. This has been done by establishing partnerships with commercial banks, making the process accessible online and the roll-out of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission kiosks in different parts of the country.
Minister Davies also said government was engaged in efforts to increase the number and contribution of black businesspeople in the country’s manufacturing sector.
“We want to make sure that we have more real effective empowerment of historically disadvantaged people as real players in the economy involved actively in their businesses. If we say that the manufacturing sector is a major driver of diversification and industrialisation, as well as and moving up the value-chain, we need to address the harsh reality that in the manufacturing sector we don’t have many black industrialists,” said Minister Davies.
He outlined how the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment legislation and the Black Industrialists Programme were being used as instruments to stimulate the creation and development of black industrialists in the country.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Twitter: @the_dti
