Photo by: Duane Daws
Stronger alignment between policy-makers and the private sector was important, said the Manufacturing Circle on Thursday, citing research that showed the interdependence of a healthy South African economy and the manufacturing sector’s growth.
The organisation had commissioned Pan-African Investment and Research Services to conduct research that proved a strong correlation between the country’s gross domestic product growth and manufacturing output from 1974 to 2014.
The Manufacturing Circle concluded that greater alignment was needed between policy-makers and the private sector on how to keep manufacturing resilient and create a positive policy environment to promote manufacturing growth.
This was not only related to the role of the Department of Trade and Industry, as alignment across government on government-wide interventions to boost manufacturing was also important.
This included local procurement, which required alignment between the more than 2 000 procurement points across the different departments, spheres of government and State-owned entities; the promotion of fair trade, which demanded alignment between trade policy, trade administration, customs and standards authorities; and ameliorating the negative impact of bunched-up administered cost increases on the economy, which required smart regulation aimed at efficiency and cost-effectiveness; as well as environmental and social responsibility.
Given manufacturing’s strong multiplier effects, it was certain that, once such alignment was reached, manufacturing would pull ahead to drive growth in the country, rather than merely mirroring it, the Manufacturing Circle stated.