South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, says his government will, this week, demonstrate that the country remains an attractive investment destination.
Writing in the latest edition of his weekly newsletter, the President said government will show the progress it is making to improve the business climate.
President Ramaphosa said:
It will build on the positive momentum in investment in the years before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign direct investment flows into South Africa, for example, rose sharply from R26.8 billion in 2017 to R70.6 billion in 2018.
The progress, the President said, will be outlined when the country hosts the third instalment of the South Africa Investment Conference in which the President has set an ambitious task of securing R1.2 trillion in additional investments over five years.
Over the last 10 months, the pandemic has forced many promising investments pledged at previous conferences to be scaled back or put on hold. However, the President said these investments only amount to about one-tenth of the total investment commitment of R664 billion. Most of the investments, he added, are going ahead.
Of the 102 projects that were announced at the last two investment conferences, 12 are in the early stages of implementation, 19 have been launched, and 44 are currently under construction or being rolled out.
The President wrote:
Beyond its contribution to national GDP, investment stimulates and supports the growth of local economies, with direct material benefits for our people. It creates work opportunities and full-time jobs, providing people with an income to feed their families and pay for basic amenities.
This income gives them purchasing power and enables them to access credit for buying a home or starting a business.
The income they spend on goods and services supports local businesses, including small enterprises. As opportunities are spread and economies grow at a local level, overall economic activity is stimulated, creating a ‘trickle-up’ effect, President Ramaphosa said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s investment conference will be limited to 175 delegates, who will attend in person from listed companies, emerging firms and entrepreneurs, business associations, labour and government. An additional 1 000 online delegates from different parts of the world have registered to date.
The President said this year’s conference is about implementation and turning commitments into brick and mortar projects in cities and towns.
It will highlight our progress in driving the economic reforms that are needed to unlock investment and growth.
Investor confidence has been boosted by, among other things, the establishment of the Infrastructure Fund. Confidence is also being improved by our continuing implementation of structural reforms and the finalisation of industry masterplans in sectors such as clothing and textiles, sugar and the automotive industry.
He said the country will showcase its strengths and how these can be leveraged to attract new investment. For example, said the President, South Africa has been voted the second most attractive location for business process outsourcing for the third year in a row.
President Ramaphosa said:
With business continuity having been disrupted by the pandemic, we are perfectly placed to capitalise on the growing need of businesses for remote contact centres. We are positioning ourselves as a hub for digital services.
Following the commitment that Amazon Web Services made at last year’s investment conference, the company opened its first cloud data centre in Africa, in Cape Town, earlier this year.
In the meantime, the SA investment conference will be held from 17 – 18 November 2020.