CAPE TOWN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Wednesday called for decisive government interventions to reverse an economic slowdown.
The ANC believes that opportunities exist for the revival and strengthening of the economy through the prioritization and full support of government interventions, the party said in a statement emailed to Xinhua.
This came after the South African economy moved back into a technical recession with a negative growth rate of -0.7 percent in the second quarter of 2018, during which all other productive sectors experienced a contraction except for the mining sector.
The ANC believes that the latest growth figures, released by Statistics South Africa on Tuesday, represent an urgent call to action for all South Africans to rally behind a common vision of growing the economy and job creation, said Enoch Godongwana, Chairperson of the ANC's Subcommittee on Economic Transformation.
The ANC-led government must take immediate, concrete and bold steps to lift the rate of growth and its inclusivity by activating macro-economic policy tools, institutional efficiencies and specific sector interventions as central instruments to mitigate the effects of a contraction in economic activity, Godongwana said.
Among the decisive interventions that the party proposes is the utilization of the government's procurement muscle to localize industries, tax credits for those companies that invest in sustainable job creation and the establishment of new manufacturers and other economic activities which would increase competition, growth and employment creation in the economy.
The party also calls for agricultural support packages that will boost economic growth and food security, together with properly-designed and executed land reform.
"These interventions do not necessarily require the development of new policies, but rather the effective implementation of existing ones," Godongwana said.
The interventions should be focused on a limited number of priorities, to ensure that the committed resources are utilized effectively and efficiently, he added.
Ambitions should not be limited to the South African market but also be expanded to supply the fast growing regional market, said Godongwana.
