SA tackling challenges through NDP: Gordhan

23 January 2014

South Africa is aware of its challenges and committed to resolving them through the policy framework provided by the country's National Development Plan (NDP), Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told delegates at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.

The NDP, South Africa's strategy for reducing unemployment, inequality and poverty by 2030, provides a strong platform for collaboration among business, government, labour and civil society.

The plan promotes enhanced competitiveness, expanded infrastructure, greater spatial efficiency in growing cities, and accelerated rural development. It prioritises measures to build a capable, effective state that delivers services to citizens while encouraging business investment and growth.

According to Business Day, Gordhan told delegates, including CEOs from around the world, that South Africa was well aware of its challenges in energy, infrastructure and skills, and was committed to resolving them.

"We are quite determined to confront our challenges, and the NDP is the framework within which we are doing that," Gordhan said.

According to Business Day, Gordhan was upbeat about South Africa's growth prospects for this year, saying that higher global demand and the continued recovery of economies in the US and Europe would support stronger economic growth in South Africa.

"But the private sector will have to play an important role, together with other role players, to create the right levels of confidence," Business Day quoted Gordhan as saying.

Speaking to South Africa's Davos delegation in Johannesburg last week, President Jacob Zuma urged them to tell the world that "we know exactly where we want to be by 2030 and we are working very hard to get there as South Africans.

"We are busy factoring the NDP into the draft Medium Term Strategic Framework that will be discussed by the Cabinet that will be appointed after elections in its first lekgotla.

"In a few months, the plan will have been mainstreamed in the work of every government department," Zuma said, adding: "We do trust that the private sector will also factor the NDP into its own strategic plans in every company so that we move seamlessly together."

SAinfo reporter