Presidency
Pledges at the annual South Africa Investment Conference (SAIC) over the past four years have exceeded President Cyril Ramaphosa’s target of R1.2 trillion in investments by some R306 billion – overachieving the target by 26%.
This was announced by the President during his closing address at the 5th SAIC on Thursday evening.
The President said the achievement was “stellar” in the face of all the challenges the country faced, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Having now officially concluded the first phase of our national investment mobilisation drives, we can say this has been a watershed conference."
"We have honoured the undertaking we gave the South African people in 2018 that we would attract new investment, investments that were much needed in our economy. We would attract all those investments from overseas and our internal companies to support the growth of local businesses and create more jobs," he said.
Ramaphosa said when South Africa set out on this ambitious path five years ago, no one could have foreseen that the world would be struck by a deadly pandemic, nor could anyone have imagined the lingering impact on investment, businesses, jobs, and livelihoods, even years after the existential threat of the pandemic that we faced.
"For us to have been able to meet our five-year target despite the major challenges and disruptions, including the pandemic, is no mean feat. It is a stellar achievement. We should all be proud of having achieved this," he said.
President Ramaphosa emphasised that these investment commitments will go a long way in stimulating economic activity, creating jobs, and developing critical infrastructure in many regions across the country.
Over the past four years, at least R263 billion has been raised for infrastructure development programmes.
"A number of these investments aren’t only bringing much-needed economic activity to these localities, they are also supporting our overall national development goals. Infrastructure development is one of the key areas of focus to drive economic growth and is the flywheel that drives economic growth," he said.
(SAGovnews)
