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Publication

THE MERCURY - BUSINESS REPORT

Page

13

Date

Thurs 07 Nov 2019

AVE (ZAR)

27056.17

H INVESTMENT

CEscommitR363billiontoboosteconomyGovernment wants to raise R1.2 trillion

SIPHELELEDLUDLAsiphelele.dludlaGinl.co.za

THE CHIEF executives of private com-panies and state-owned enterprisesyesterday rallied behind the govern-ment's bold ambition to raiseR1.2 tril-lion in new domesticand internationalinvestment over the next five years bycommitting R363 billion to boost theeconomy.

South African private sector com-panies are sitting on more than R1trinworth of cash reserves, put off by astagnant economy, low commodityprices and energy supply challenges.

Last year, local and internationalinvestors pledged investments total-ling nearly R300 billion in 31 projectsduring the inaugural South AfricaInvestment Conference.

The second instalment of theconference yesterday saw investorspledging investments totalling billionsto help reignite the ailing economy,which is growing at 0.5 percent.

MTN Group president and chiefexecutive Rob Shuter yesterdayannounced a R5Obn investment overfive years in infrastructure.

Shuter said MTN would investR1O0bna year in capital investment,assisting with the roll-out of digitalinfrastructure and connectivity andthe building of propertiesfor useacross21 countries.

"We are absolute believers that

South Africa is going to rise and pros-per in the years ahead," Shuter said.

South African pulp and papercompany Sappi Group made a furthercommitment of R14bn acrossits fourplants in the country.

Investors have described the auto-motive industry asone of South Afri-ca's most thriving sectors.

The National Association of Auto-mobile Manufacturers on Tuesdayannounced an investment of Rébntowards the establishment of an auto-motive industry fund to train blackSouth Africans, and also to enableyoung black female employees to workin the automotive industry.

Toyota South Africa presidentAndrew Kirby yesterday announcedan investment of R2.43bn towards anew passengercar model that will gointo production in Durban by the endof 2021. "The investment will createan additional economic activity ofR2.85bn per annum and it will gen-erate an additional 1 500 new jobs,"Kirby said.

South African automotive bodyparts blanking company VM Auto-motive also made a commitment foran investment of R426 million.

The Agricultural DevelopmentAgency pledged R12.9bn over the nextfive years in creating an oppor tunityfor the emergence of new farmers,helping 450 000 people in rural com-munities, and creating 300 000 poten-

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INVESTMENT Cont

TH AMENT CC"conomic Growth I

PRESIDENTCyril Ramaphosa(seated)witnesses Trade and IndustryMinister Ebrahim Patel and Japan's ambassadordesignate to SouthAfrica,NorioMaruyama,signthe agreementto establishthe Japan-SouthAfricaBusinessForumat the secondSouthAfricaInvestmentConferenceat the SandtonConventionCentreyesterday. | JAIRUSMMUTLEGCIS

tial job opportunities.International healthcare products

supplier Braun Global pledged R300m.Clothing retailers- including Wool-

worths Holdings, Foschini and Edcon- committed to spending R6.5bn onnew manufacturing capacity thatwould create 20 000 jobs, accordingto Bloomberg.

Exxaro chief executive Mxol-isi Mgojo said the diversified minerwould be investing R40m into a pro-gramme, which provided digital tech-nology training to 400 youth over thenext 12 months, in support of youthdevelopment in the Fourth IndustrialRevolution.

"Exxaro has been on a digitalisa-tion journey for the last three yearsand is now seen as a leader in digitaladoption and transformation in the

mining industry," Mgojo said.Financial services and healthcare

group Discovery South Africa commit-ted R1.4bn towards growing the SouthAfrican economy.

The BRICS New Development Banksaid its investment of R23bn aims todiversify and offer new opportunitiesin the banking space.

A few co-operative and bilateralagreements were also signed at theconference.

Japan'sambassadorto SouthAfrica,Norio Maruyama, and Minister ofTrade and Industry Ebrahim Patelsigned an agreement establishing theJapan-South Africa Business Forum.

Japanese companies committed toinvesting more than R6.8bn at lastyear's conference.

Maruyama said the Japanesegov-

ernment and private sector investorswould commit to a further investmentof $20bn (R295bn) across the Afri-can continent, a proportion of whichwould be committed to the SouthAfrican economy.

The Department of Trade, Indus-try and Economic Development alsosigned more than R365m investmentby Amazon Web Services under theB-BBEE Equity Equivalent InvestmentProgramme.

The fund will be invested in thedevelopment of 100 percent black-owned South African SMMEs withinthe ICT sector.

Companies and government alsosigned the Clothing, Textile, Footwearand Leather Masterplan, which hasbeen developed in the spirit of part-nership and renewal.