The government is taking steps to address concerns raised by foreign and local investors about SA’s continued slow economic growth, rising debt, and poor performance of some parastatals, President Jacob Zuma said on Friday.
Ratings agencies have flagged the country’s reduced growth prospects, rising debt, policy uncertainty, and government’s increasing guarantees to failing state-owned entities as a serious risk to SA’s sovereign credit rating.
Speaking at the launch of the Western Cape branch of the Invest SA One Stop Shop (InvestSA OSS) in Cape Town, Zuma said the government would accelerate the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) — the blueprint for stimulating economic growth, creating jobs and eliminating poverty — "because we believe it is the only plan that will lead us to inclusive growth and help us create jobs".
"Noting the difficult economic conditions we face, I convened a meeting of the economic cluster ministers at the end of June this year to assess the situation and to formulate concrete measures to turn the situation around," said Zuma. "I called the meeting to also communicate to the ministers that we need to act with a strong measure of urgency. It is simply not sufficient to say we have the NDP anymore. We need to move faster to implement it. The meeting agreed on clear implementation timelines for the key structural reforms related to the Nine-Point Plan to re-ignite economic growth."
Zuma said creating an environment where the economy can grow and jobs can be created remained front and centre of government policy.
From permits to water or electricity services, tax issues, licensing — it should be easy for an investor to get all these services under one roof
The NDP envisages the combined investment by the private and public sectors to rise from the current levels of about 19% of GDP to 30% by 2030. This endeavour, said Zuma, requires a concerted effort from the government across all spheres, the private sector and organised labour.
"From our part, as government, we have established an inter-ministerial committee on investment comprising of 18 Cabinet ministers to oversee our overall investment policy, co-ordination and alignment, including the investment climate and marketing of SA as an investment destination," he said.
The launch of the Western Cape branch of the InvestSA OSS is aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the region and the country. The national launch took place earlier in 2017 in Pretoria.
Zuma said that for a long time there have been concerns from the business and investor community that bureaucratic hurdles in the state make investing in SA difficult. "The launch of InvestSA OSS for the Western Cape this morning is our concrete response, as government, to these concerns."
The initiative will oversee all key regulatory and administrative departments and agencies to provide an integrated service to investors. All an investor needs to do, Zuma said, is to make an appointment with the relevant government representative at the OSS to explain the services required and the government representative will provide guidance and support. "From permits to water or electricity services, tax issues, licensing — it should be easy for an investor to get all these services under one roof," Zuma said.
Key departments, such as Home Affairs, Labour, Environmental Affairs, Trade and Industry, and agencies such as the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, South African Revenue Services, visa facilitation services, will also be available at the OSS.
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