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Johannesburg - Business Unity South Africa’s special advisor, Raymond Parsons, says it is imperative for key stakeholders to arrest the decline in domestic and foreign investor confidence.
He said: “South Africa must concentrate on factors in can control.
“There is an urgent imperative for key stakeholders to collaborate to arrest the decline in domestic and foreign investor confidence.
He was referring to meetings held between cabinet ministers, private sector leaders and union representatives who met recently to discuss the resolution of wage disputes between employees and employers to avoid strikes in key sectors.
An earlier report quoted the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Chamber of Mines as being equally perturbed by claims that the union’s opening demand was for a 60% wage increase.
The union is demanding a new minimum basic wage for underground workers of R8 000 and R7 000 for surface workers.
Trade union Uasa said on Friday that the lack of a binding collective bargaining agreement at Lonmin platinum mine would see turbulence in the industry continue.
"In the absence of an agreement, the turbulence in the industry is set to continue with devastating consequences to the economy and the value of our currency," said Uasa mineral workers' manager Franz Stehring in a statement.
"Uasa calls on all the parties involved to apply their minds and explore ways and means to resolve the matter."
Confidence
Parsons said while South Africa’s economic prospects largely depended on the recovery of the global economy, local aspects were also setting the economy back.
Big business urgently needed a “collective response” from all stakeholders was needed to deal with investor confidence hurt by labour tensions.
"It needs a collective response from major players in the economy to successfully address the current negative features of the economic landscape," Parsons said in an article published in the Business Day.
More institutions are downwardly revising growth forecasts for this year.
The Reserve Bank last week joined others in lowering economic growth forecasts for this year to 2.4%.
"The revision of economic growth forecasts by the Reserve Bank and others comes as no surprise to Busa, which had already emphasised much earlier in the year that the outlook was for subdued growth in 2013," Parsons said.
The 2.4% growth outlook is in line with that of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), which was among the first institutions to downwardly revise growth forecasts to this figure.
"Our forecast of 2.4% growth is premised on a moderation in both household consumption growth and fixed investment growth," RMB economist Carmen Nel said.
Infrastructure
Real gross fixed capital formation by private business enterprises slowed to 3.9% last year following a 4.6% increase in 2011.
"Private fixed capital formation is not at the levels needed for faster growth and employment.
"It is not good news to have confirmation of the fact that South Africa’s growth and investment rates are now inadequate to meet its socioeconomic challenges, especially job creation," Parsons said.
However, he was confident that the government’s multibillion-rand infrastructure spend and the National Development Plan could "help to underpin growth and employment" in both the short and long term.
Busa believes it is important to ensure that the country does not drift into what it refers to as a low-growth trap, from which it would be difficult to emerge.
South Africa’s growth rates are already falling behind when compared with those of other emerging countries on the continent.
- Fin24
He said: “South Africa must concentrate on factors in can control.
“There is an urgent imperative for key stakeholders to collaborate to arrest the decline in domestic and foreign investor confidence.
He was referring to meetings held between cabinet ministers, private sector leaders and union representatives who met recently to discuss the resolution of wage disputes between employees and employers to avoid strikes in key sectors.
An earlier report quoted the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Chamber of Mines as being equally perturbed by claims that the union’s opening demand was for a 60% wage increase.
The union is demanding a new minimum basic wage for underground workers of R8 000 and R7 000 for surface workers.
Trade union Uasa said on Friday that the lack of a binding collective bargaining agreement at Lonmin platinum mine would see turbulence in the industry continue.
"In the absence of an agreement, the turbulence in the industry is set to continue with devastating consequences to the economy and the value of our currency," said Uasa mineral workers' manager Franz Stehring in a statement.
"Uasa calls on all the parties involved to apply their minds and explore ways and means to resolve the matter."
Confidence
Parsons said while South Africa’s economic prospects largely depended on the recovery of the global economy, local aspects were also setting the economy back.
Big business urgently needed a “collective response” from all stakeholders was needed to deal with investor confidence hurt by labour tensions.
"It needs a collective response from major players in the economy to successfully address the current negative features of the economic landscape," Parsons said in an article published in the Business Day.
More institutions are downwardly revising growth forecasts for this year.
The Reserve Bank last week joined others in lowering economic growth forecasts for this year to 2.4%.
"The revision of economic growth forecasts by the Reserve Bank and others comes as no surprise to Busa, which had already emphasised much earlier in the year that the outlook was for subdued growth in 2013," Parsons said.
The 2.4% growth outlook is in line with that of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), which was among the first institutions to downwardly revise growth forecasts to this figure.
"Our forecast of 2.4% growth is premised on a moderation in both household consumption growth and fixed investment growth," RMB economist Carmen Nel said.
Infrastructure
Real gross fixed capital formation by private business enterprises slowed to 3.9% last year following a 4.6% increase in 2011.
"Private fixed capital formation is not at the levels needed for faster growth and employment.
"It is not good news to have confirmation of the fact that South Africa’s growth and investment rates are now inadequate to meet its socioeconomic challenges, especially job creation," Parsons said.
However, he was confident that the government’s multibillion-rand infrastructure spend and the National Development Plan could "help to underpin growth and employment" in both the short and long term.
Busa believes it is important to ensure that the country does not drift into what it refers to as a low-growth trap, from which it would be difficult to emerge.
South Africa’s growth rates are already falling behind when compared with those of other emerging countries on the continent.
- Fin24
