The South African government’s latest Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) places greater emphasis than was the case in the previous five versions on raising the country’s export competitiveness as part of what the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is now calling a ‘Smart Reindustrialisation’ strategy.
Speaking at the release of the sixth IPAP in Johannesburg on Monday, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies said government would increasingly demand that those benefitting from industrial incentives become active exporters, particularly into growing African markets.
The export strategy, which was conceived against a backdrop of South Africa’s persistent trade-account deficit, would seek to reward export-oriented firms with conditional incentives, increased industrial financing and export-promotion assistance.
In its recently published ‘Economic Trends’ publication, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) noted that the current account of the balance of payments deteriorated substantially, as the deficit-to-gross-domestic-product (GDP) ratio widened to 5.8% in 2013, from 5.2% in 2012. A key contributor was the country’s largest trade deficit in relation to GDP in four decades, which stood at 2.2%. READ MORE
Source: www.engineeringnews.co.za
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