The Western Cape secured R7.3bn in 35 foreign direct investments from EU countries over the three years from 2021 to 2023, the provincial department of economic development and tourism has disclosed.
This emerged from a departmental reply, in which it said the investment had created 2,711 permanent jobs.
DA spokesperson on economic development and tourism Noko Masipa said that about 71.43% of the investment projects were new, while 25.71% were for expansion.
France and the Netherlands were the top two countries in terms of projects tracked, each accounting for 17.14% of total projects. In terms of capital expenditure, France (19.37%) and Belgium (14.35%) were the top two countries.
Business and software and IT services accounted for a significant share of the number of projects and capex with a combined share of 40% of the number of projects and 44.85% of capex.
About R532m of capex in 2022 and R895.86m in 2023 were linked to research and development.
Masipa said the statistics demonstrated the Western Cape government’s approach to creating a business-friendly environment for investors had borne fruit.
Masipa added that the provincial government, through its growth strategy, aimed to create 800,000 new jobs in the next five years.
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