Coega Development Corporation (CDC) has announced that it has signed four new investors estimated to represent a combined value in excess of R49 million.
CDC head of marketing, brand and communications, Dr Ayanda Vilakazi, said an estimated 101 new jobs were expected to be created by the investments.
“The newly signed investors are an illustration of the dedication and hard work by various CDC stakeholders, both internal and external, amid a very difficult operating environment,” Vilakazi said.
“Their hard work ensured that the organisation’s investment promotion initiatives bore fruit in terms of number and value of investors, outcome in relation to job creation, as well as training and development.
Vilakazi emphasised that it should be borne in mind that according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), global foreign direct investment (FDI) had collapsed in 2020, decreasing by 42% to an estimated $859 billion, compared with about $1.5 trillion in 2019.
In addition, FDI had finished the year at a level last seen in the 1990s.
However, the decline in developing economies was relatively lower than that in developed countries at 12% to an estimated $616-billion, according to the organisation, which expects the global FDI trend to remain weak in 2021.
“While operating in a difficult economic environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the CDC has retained its 45 current operational investors and also brought home new ones,” Vilakazi said.
A CDC statement revealed that Port Elizabeth’s Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) had focused on diversifying the economy through attracting investors from multiple investment sectors, such as business process outsourcing, energy and automotive, to name a few.
In 2019 and 2020 the CDC created 14 240 jobs, 5 934 in construction and a further 8 306 accumulative operational positions.
Last year the organisation also signed 12 new investors valued at R719 million.
Over the past five years, 77 new investors have been signed valued at R42 839 billion.
