Minister launches new Industrial Policy Action Plan

Davies said South Africa’s economy needed to break out of commodity dependence and move to a more diversified base in which the country’s growth trajectory would be defined by increasing manufacturing-based value addition, employment creation and export-intensity.

He was speaking at the launch of the 8th iteration of Industrial Policy Action Plan – IPAP 2016/17-2018/19 on Monday at Guestro Naledi Inhlanganiso Group Foundry (NI-Forge) in Benoni, Gauteng.

In a statement, Davies indicated that economic growth should not be based on unsustainable models and that industrial policy was key for inclusive growth.

“Inclusive growth cannot be achieved by sticking to an imbalanced and unsustainable economic model based on the service sectors growing at twice the rate of the productive sectors, on the back of credit-fuelled consumption and import-intensity. Especially in tough times, there can be no retreat from industrial policy. It must be strengthened, deepened and embraced by all the social partners,” Davies said.

Among the achievement highlighted for the IPAP 2015/16 were public procurement policies which had a positive impact of designations and localisation in clothing, textiles, leather and footwear industries, investments in the automotive sector and the local production of locomotives, the Oceans Economy Operation Phakisa, gro-processing, green industry investments, and business process services.

For the IPAP 2016/17–2108/19, the trade and industry department said key focal areas would be public procurement, a strong focus on spill-over and labour-intensive sectors, leveraging the devaluation of the rand, growing exports, automotives, gas-based industrialisation and minimising red tape.

Davies said significant progress had been achieved with regard to the difficult process of reindustrialising the domestic economy.  - ANA