Cape Town – With the global economy facing headwinds, government and the private sector should work together in order to stimulate the local economy.
Leading a briefing of the Economic Sectors, Employment and Infrastructure Development Cluster (ESEID), Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said government’s nine-point plan interventions require greater partnership between all sectors of the economy to advance development.
“The nine-point plan interventions were designed to stimulate the economy in a phased manner over the long term. Each priority intervention does not work in isolation but is part of an integrated national effort.
“It is a national effort towards inclusive economic growth,” the Minister said.
The Minister’s statement comes after Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced during the medium term budget last week that the country’s economic growth would be revised downwards to 1.5% in 2015 due to a bleak global economic outlook and domestic constraints.
South Africa’s traditional trade partners continue to face tough economic times.
While the European Union only grew by just 0.9%, Japan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrank by 0.1%, with China’s growth slowing to 6.9% last week.
Commodity prices of iron ore, coal, platinum and oil are still well below their 2008 highs.
Minister Nkwinti said with the global outlook continuing on a path of uncertainty, South Africa can no longer continue to depend on global growth alone to ignite growth.
“A key cross-cutting priority of the nine-point plan is to build stronger and enduring partnerships with the private sector.
“Government has prioritised leveraging private sector investment in the infrastructure build programme, the manufacturing sector and the ocean economy under the auspices of Operation Phakisa.
“Operation Phakisa is an innovative and pioneering approach to translate detailed plans into concrete results through dedicated delivery and collaboration.
“Through Operation Phakisa, government aims to implement priority programmes better, faster and more effectively,” he said.
The Minister said to achieve real development, women had to be empowered as to improve their social security.
“The economic empowerment of women is critical in order for South Africa to achieve real economic development and growth.
“The nine-point plan interventions will yield results over different time frames in the immediate, medium and long term.
Working together for better outcomes
Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said, meanwhile, that perceptions of mistrust between big business and the public sector were untrue.
“I think we need to put it to rest now … we have a responsibility - both government and the private sector.
“We agree of course that for business, it is about profit margins. It is about supply and demand, it is about ensuring that they get a return on the money they invest.
“But we can’t run away from one fact: we are a country that needs all of us to hold hands and work with each other to make sure we turn things around,” she said.
She said government would do everything possible to ensure that the public-private partnerships continue to grow.
“The bottom line is we will agree and we will disagree on certain issues. What is important is the fact that the President has been trying to call meetings between the private sector and government and those meetings have been very frank because both sides have been raising the fact that we don’t talk to each other as often as we were supposed to,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
