Eastern Cape economy accelerates

Ed Richardson ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, trade, and investment growth have begun to accelerate rapidly in the Eastern Cape against a backdrop of big improvements in basic infrastructure and radical transformation in institutional agencies facilitating development and investment. This is according to the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) annual financial report released in East London. The report Ð the first to be publicly released Ð showed that export trade in the province rose by 22,45% from R14,7-billion in 2000 to R18-billion in 2002. This constituted 7,4% of the country's total export trade. Major contributors to the province's export trade were the motor and components manufacturing sector (40,6% or R7,34-billion) followed by boilers, machinery and appliances (27,2% or R4,9-billion) and the agriculture and textile sectors (6,1% or R1,1-billion). Germany was the province's biggest trading partner, accounting for 33% of exports. It was followed by the United Kingdom (16%) and the US (12%). Trade with Asia is also growing fast, according to the report.