Economy too reliant on mines – Radebe
South Africa's economy is still too reliant on mineral exports, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Wednesday.
Opening debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday evening's state-of-the-nation address, he added detail to President Jacob Zuma's call for the country to embark on a programme of radical socioeconomic transformation.
Radebe said the basis for this would involve placing the economy "on a qualitatively different path" that eliminated poverty, reduced unemployment, created jobs and reduced inequality.
"Our economy is still too reliant on exporting mineral resources, is still over-concentrated in a relatively few large companies, and is still largely owned and controlled by a racial minority," he said.
South Africa's low economic growth since 2008, coupled with a weak export performance, had weakened fiscal balances and resulted in a growing current account imbalance.
"By 2013, approximately R700-billion of foreign savings were required to fund the current account deficit. This dependence on foreign savings exposes our economy to significant financial sector risks and increases our exposure to external shocks."
First quarter GDP data for this year showed the SA economy had contracted in annualised terms by minus 0.6% compared to the previous quarter.
"[This was] partly as a result of the protracted strike in the platinum mining sector."
Radebe also warned of a tightening of monetary policy.
"Inflation is also rising, raising the prospect of a tightening of monetary policy with potentially negative consequences for economic recovery, and the recent rating downgrades will raise our cost of borrowing."
Turning to the mining industry, he said "intolerable" conditions for mineworkers need to be tackled urgently.
"Working together with mining companies and organised labour, we need to urgently address the intolerable situation where our mines which produce so much wealth are surrounded by human settlements characterised by such squalor and poverty," he said.
Comments
The
content
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?
Receive 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)
➕
Recieve 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
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation