The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has set aside R15-billion for projected investments across all incentives, and the entire budget for the new financial year is to be spent on efforts to industrialise the country and broaden the manufacturing sector, as reflected in its performance targets.
DTI director-general Lionel October on Wednesday told the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry that the department’s budget would also support businesses that have a globally competitive niche on the continent.
“The projected number of new jobs to be supported and number of jobs to be retained from enterprises is set at 6 000, while 800 projects have been approved through our incentives schemes to support enterprises in different sectors of the economy,” he said.
The jobs target could be surpassed by up to 24 000, however, as for every one job created in the manufacturing sector four more jobs are created in the upstream and downstream sectors, October added.
“Government manufacturing incentives, localisation and designation continued to strengthen the economy despite negative global and domestic trading conditions.”
This is despite a decrease in demand for South African products and factories not running at full capacity, owing to a decline in procurement from State-owned entities.“Overall, South African demand for goods from Africa also decreased by 7% in the last quarter of [the 2016/17 financial year] to R28-billion, from R30-billion in the third quarter in the same year.”
