The Director-General of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) Mr Lionel October has highlighted the forging of a “buy local” culture and the need to narrow the divide between big business and township business as important components of efforts to build an inclusive South African economy.

October said this while presenting the dti's Annual Report to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry in Parliament on Friday.

“The good news for South Africans is that the South African economy is recovering. And while it may still be too slow for the liking of some people - and while a full recovery may still take some time, indications are that the fundamentals that were put in place and the decisions that were taken when the 'Great Recession' and the Euro-zone crisis started biting, are starting to bear fruit,” said  October.

He added that the country was on a slow road to recovery - but it is continuing to face challenges.

“The main challenge, he said, was the slow contribution to global growth - 1,6 percent in 2011 and 1,3 percent in 2012 - of the advanced economies. The problem for South Africa was that it still had a skewed reliance on the advanced economies for exports. The economic woes of countries making up this bloc meant fewer export opportunities for South Africa,” he said.

“Another big challenge centred on South Africa's trade deficit. We have seen an improvement in exports, but this still lags behind the expansion in our imports. There was a silver lining, however. The emerging economies have performed far better - at 6,3 percent and 5,1 over the past two years. This provided clear proof of the astuteness of the dti in increasing efforts to diversify South Africa's trade and investment markets, by turning to Africa, South-East Asia, the Middle East and South America. Currently, the dti is achieving its best successes in four key areas. Namely the auto industry, clothing and textile industry, Business Process Services and the film industry,” October explained.

He listed one of the highlights of the past year as the Chinese automotive company First Automobile Works' commencement of the construction of a truck plant at the Coega Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape. He also mentioned the investment by Beijing Automotive Works to the tune of R196-million in a taxi assembly plant for South African and sub-Saharan markets.

Another success story of the year was the continued recovery of the clothing industry, due mainly to the dti-inspired Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme, which helped to create 12,200 new jobs. The footwear sector also showed that it was bouncing back after a long period of decline - with expectations being that the production of shoes will increase from 52-million to 100-million over the next three years.

The Business Process Services Incentive Programme provided R1.3-billion to create an estimated 4 500 jobs over the next three years. And in another indication of its diversity, the dti, through its Industrial Development cluster approved 70 film productions, including the recently released 'Long Walk to Freedom’, as well as the Monyetla Work-Readiness Programme, which trained 3,819 learners in the Business Process Services.

October said that a number of other programmes, including the Manufacturing Competitive Enhancement Programme (which approved grants of almost R1-billion to 189 enterprises, and as result led to the retention of 33,551 jobs); the 12I tax incentive scheme which drew an investment of R10.2-billion and 1,357 projected jobs; and the Technology for Human Resources Industry Programme, which funded 1,506 students and 1135 researchers, also played their part in growing businesses and jobs.