There is a need for urgency in South Africa’s response towards the recession, said Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel on Thursday.
”More needs to be done … business representatives working with government need to come up with ways on how we can we leverage the impact,” he said after a meeting with Business Unity South Africa (Busa) in Sandton.
Patel said the country needed to move rapidly to ensure its industrial capacity was not destroyed by the recession.
He said that at the same time as South Africa realised its own goals, it needed to foster much stronger economic growth and development in neighbouring countries and in the African region.
”We need an Africa-wide economic vision.”
Patel said South Africa needed to deepen its economic relations in the region by taking the neighbouring countries’ issues into account and helping them overcome them.
”China, Russia’s visits to South Africa and the recent visit by [United States] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicate that these countries see economic opportunities on the African continent.”
Patel said a ”much stronger” focus on industrial policy was needed.
He said the Industrial Development Corporation had a R6-billion budget over two years to assist companies that were badly affected by the economic situation.
The government and the community had to come up with responses to the current financial situation that would look beyond recession and ensure quality economic growth that creates employment for the country, he said.
Commenting on the South African Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the repo rate by 50 basis points on Thursday, deputy chief executive officer Raymond Parsons said Busa supported the move. — Sapa