Consumer spending to drive economies in future

12th March 2015

By: Megan van Wyngaardt

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

  

Font size: - +

The global trend of economies shifting from being commodity driven to being consumer driven has started to find its footing in Africa.

“The one true driver of gross domestic product growth in any country is now consumer driven. Even in South Africa, the economy is only 19% hard commodity driven,” Accenture Strategy MD Joost den Haas said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry event, he cited Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa as some of the African countries that were actively shifting towards consumer-driven economic growth.

He pointed out that consumer goods, telecommunications, financial services and agriculture were the key enablers of economic growth on the continent.

From 2013 to 2020, private consumption in Africa would increase by 41% in real terms and consumer expenditure would rise to more than $1.1-trillion. Consumer goods companies were increasingly focusing on expanding into Africa, Den Haas noted.

Further, governments across the continent were focusing on improving food security and investing heavily in the agriculture sector, with assistance from the private sector.

Meanwhile, Den Haas noted that a significant shortage of local engineering capacity was a challenge, as many capital projects in Africa had already started showing signs of deterioration, owing to the lack of maintenance.

“Just contracting a number of skills is not enough. A growing reliance on expatriates raises intercultural communication challenges, while placing pressure on cost calculations and upsetting local hiring prerequisites,” he added.

Further, when expatriates leave a country after having finished a project, they often take their skills with them, without local transfer. Den Haas cited recent rail developments on the continent as an example.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION