President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his State of the Nation Address, aimed to provide hope that the country’s economic recovery plan is on a promising path as he outlined several achievements.
Ramaphosa dedicated a large part of his speech on Thursday night to the government’s economic recovery plan.
He acknowledged that the country’s outlook seemed bleak as the economy shrunk by 6% in the third quarter of 2020. A total of 1.7 million people were jobless in the third quarter of 2020 and the unemployment rate sat at 30.8%.
He said because of the economic relief measures being implemented, a recovery in the unemployment figures was possible.
Ramaphosa said the economic relief package he introduced last year, valued at R500 billion, had provided much needed relief to poor households and struggling businesses. He said 18 million people received additional grant payments and R57 billion, to 4.5 million workers, was paid in wage support as part of the UIF TERS scheme.
“More than R1.3 billion has been provided in support mainly for small- and medium-sized businesses. In addition, over R70 billion in tax relief was extended to businesses in distress. Around R18.9 billion in loans have been approved for 13 000 businesses through the loan guarantee scheme,” Ramaphosa said.
He said as part of the economic recovery plan he announced last year, several commitments had been made regarding an infrastructure programme, increasing local production, employment stimulus and the expansion of energy generation.
Ramaphosa said the government had developed a R340 billion infrastructure investment project pipeline which will be targeted at energy, water, transport and telecommunication.
The president said the country remained an attractive destination for investment by local and offshore companies.
The last three investment drives, hosted with an aim of attracting R1.2 trillion in investment pledges in five years, have so far R773 billion.
“Firms have reported that some R183 billion of these investments has already flowed into projects that benefit the South African economy. This shows that our country is still an attractive investment destination for both local and offshore companies,” Ramaphosa said.
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Source: IOL
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