FEDUSA Welcomes Multi-billion Investment Pledges But Calls for Concrete Plans to Grow the Economy and Create Jobs

 08 November 2019

The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) has welcomed the R363 billion in investment pledges committed by overseas and local companies at the 2nd Investment Conference in South Africa that ended on Thursday in Johannesburg. The new pledges are estimated to be 17% more than those made at the inaugural Conference in 2018 and have the potential to create 420 000 direct jobs over five years. President Cyril Ramaphosa plans to use these Conferences to raise at least R1.2 trillion over the same period to stimulate economic growth.

However, FEDUSA has called for transparency into whether these investments are really honored in terms of actual disbursement to the Fiscus and translated into concrete job creation projects on the ground with measurable outputs. Such a scenario can lend hope to making a dent into high unemployment numbers of 29.1% and 31% nationally and in the economic heartland of Gauteng, respectively when using the strict definition of unemployment; which rises to 39.1% and 41% when using the expanded definition.

Urgent operationalization of the pledges will also go a long way towards keeping the wolves away from the door in terms of the next review of sovereign credit rating by Moody’s which is expected in the first quarter of 2020. Moody’s downgraded South Africa’s credit profile from stable to negative on 1 November 2019 following the tabling of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni in Parliament on 30 October 2019. The Statement painted a grim picture that national debt that was out of control and was expected to rise to 70% of GDP over the next few years and the negative credit profile it triggered, is just one notch above junk status or sub-investment grade.

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For interviews please contact

Riefdah Ajam

FEDUSA Acting General Secretary

079 696 2625

Issued by:

Frank Nxumalo

FEDUSA Media and Research Officer

072 637 8096

 Email: research @fedusa.org.za