Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies reiterated the need for diversification in his budget vote address. “Our economy remains insufficiently diversified and too largely dependent on mineral exports, and is thus vulnerable to shifts in the external environment,” he said. “Manufacturing output has remained below potential, with the result that imports have filled gaps in the domestic market that ought to have been occupied by domestic products.” The combination of these elements is clearly a key factor underlying the widening current account deficit. “In addition, dominant firms limit competition and restrict entry of small and medium enterprises, thus contributing to the skewed pattern of the economy’s development, including in spatial and racial terms, resulting in the entrenchment of extreme levels of inequality and poverty.” In order to achieve the target of halving unemployment by 2014 Davies concedes that the dti will need to up its game substantially in terms of the delivery of the range of services for which it is responsible.
‘Dti will need to up its game’
Comments | 0
