Government has made a three-year allocation of R19.8-billion to support industrial business incentives, 48% of which will go to manufacturing development, the National Treasury announced on last week.

The medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) allocation includes a reprioritised amount of R600-million for the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Programme, which aims to reposition South Africa to compete against other low-cost producing countries.

Industrial business incentives, along with access to loans for small business intermediaries, accelerated land reform and developing infrastructure, are key components of government’s economic development programme.

In the MTEF period, which includes 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, spending on economic development would increase by 7%, Treasury stated.

Government would provide more support for small businesses and announced the launch of a Small Business and Innovation Fund in 2019/20. This fund would receive R3.2-billion over the MTEF to support small business intermediaries, such as fund managers and incubators.

This would support 35 500 existing jobs and create about 25 000 new jobs over the next three years.

In terms of land reform, R18.4-billion has been allocated to accelerate the programme over the MTEF. This, the National Treasury explained, would help finalise more than 1 700 restitution claims and acquire more than 325 000 ha of land for landless South Africans.

In addition, government has allocated R138-million to help resettled farmers purchase equipment and develop farms over the medium term.

As part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic stimulus and recovery plan, government and organisations representing farmers of different commodities will implement 262 priority land-reform projects at a cost of R1.8-billion.

A blended-finance model, which aims to support emerging black farmers under the Black Producer Commercialisation Programme, will receive a further R887-million over the medium term to help them to access finance.