Yesterday saw the launch by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies, of the Gold Loan Scheme at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) offices in Sandton. The R100-million scheme has been set up to provide working capital loans to gold jewellery manufacturers.
According to Minister Davies, funds for the scheme were sourced from the Manufacturing Competitiveness Enhancement Programme (MCEP) Industrial Niche Projects Fund managed by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).
"The objective of the MCEP Industrial Niche Projects Fund is to provide funding to new, emerging or niche manufacturing sectors and jewellery manufacturing is one of them," he says.
He adds that funding from this scheme will only be available for manufacturing activities taking place in South Africa and only existing businesses will be funded.
"The applicant must possess requisite statutory approvals and documents for handling metals and must have adequate insurance against gold loss," he said.
Minister Davies added that the working capital loans under the Scheme would be provided at a fixed rate of 3% per annum.
Jewellery manufacturers get R100m boost
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