SA economy stable: Erwin
Richard Mantu
13 February 2004
Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin says that through a number of reforms to transform the economy, South Africa is laying the basis for tackling challenges such as unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment.
Briefing the media in Cape Town on Thursday, Erwin said that the government had to ensure macro-economic stability, steady trade reform and improved trade access and industrial policies, and to increase competitiveness in order to address the legacy of apartheid rule.
The government, he said, had achieved macro-economic stability, with the budget deficit - including the deficits of the former bantustans - coming down from 9.5% of GDP in 1993 to fractionally over 1 percent in the 2002/03 fiscal year.
Total public sector debt had fallen from over 60 percent of GDP in 1994 to barely 50 percent of GDP in 2002/03, while the Reserve Bank's net open forward position had fallen from $25-billion in 1994 to $22.5-billion in 1998 to zero
in the 2003 fiscal year.
"Creating sound macro-economic fundamentals enabled more targeted micro-economic reforms to generate economic growth levels to sufficient levels to address South Africa's policy goals", Erwin said.
"A package of policies looking at cross-cutting issues of technology, human resource and skills development, infrastructure and logistics, sector development and equity were initiated, and products and services were generated to support the implementation of these policies", he said.
The many reforms introduced over the past decade had reduced the cost of production and improved the competitiveness of the economy, Erwin said.
The manufacturing sector was more integrated, diversified and had a higher value, while improved infrastructure, transport systems and increased market access opportunities, along with incentives and programmes to assist small, medium and micro-enterprises, had resulted in a substantial growth in exports.
Erwin said private fixed investment was rising, showing that South African business had confidence in the country's economy.
Source: BuaNews
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