MONDAY, 10.30AM
BUSINESS Map consultants said yesterday that foreign direct investment commitments since the 1994 democratic elections have surpassed R31,6-billion.
The business intelligence consultants made the statement on the eve of the release of its 1997 SA Investment Report, which will show that foreign direct investment commitments for the first four months of this year topped R10-billion, substantially overtaking the R7,8-billion committed during the whole of 1996.
However, outward investment by SA companies since May 1994 exceeded inward investment at R33-billion.
According to the report: “Overall the research shows that there is not just satisfaction with the economic policies of the new governemnt, but that there is a confidence that it will stand by its policies. Crime, however, remains a constraint.”
The United States was the leading investor in SA, with R11-billion committed, followed by Malaysia, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. These countries together accounted for 80% of investment in SA. The top 10 investing companies were SBC Communication, Telekom Malaysia, Coca-Cola, Petronas, Caltex, BMW, Nestl, Goodyear, BP and Shell.
The largest outward investors were Anglo-American, Gencor, SA Breweries, Sappi, Mondi, Nethold, Sun International, Sentrachem, Barlows, Sasol and Persetel. Mining investment tended to go to emerging economies, while non-mining investment was aimed at developed markets.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
GERMANS FLEE CRIME RAMPANT crime in SA is a threat to foreign investment and is scaring of German investors, according to a survey conducted by the SA-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a German university. About 15% of German companies in SA, which employ 6% of the workforce, have halted significant new investment because of crime. A total of 8%, all small companies, are thinking of pulling out of SA entirely.
SA MORE FREE SA has advanced three places to 50th out of 115 countries ranked in the 1996 world economic freedom tables, according to the Economic Freedom of the World 1997 report published on Monday. Four main criteria are used to determine the rankings: sound money and price stability, reliance on markets, freedom to retain what one has earned, and international exchange.
ZAIRE MINING DEALS MINING agreements made with the former Mobutu government in Zaire will have to be renegotiated with the new government, said Matutulo Kambale, mining minister in Laurent Kabila’s Democratic Republic of the Congo government. “If there were agreements with the p[revious government, we will accept them, but on condition they are ratified,” he said.
TELKOM WANTS INTERNET MONOPOLY TELKOM is to subm,it a proposal to the SA Telecommunications rRegulatory Authority this week requesting monoploy rights over basic internet services. Satra must now decide which aspects of internet service provision are Telkom’s exclusive right.