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Johannesburg - With economic projections of growth closer to 3%, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday during an interview on CNN that he believed the worst was over for the local economy.
While the effects of the "Great Recession" continue to haunt sentiment and market performances, Gordhan called for structural reforms to improve growth rates.
While there were some elements of uncertainty, especially in the European Union, Gordhan said "austerity alone will not supply jobs".
Gordhan was disappointed an emerging market candidate had not won the race to be World Bank president to replace Robert Zoellick - it went the way of the US again in the form of Jim Yong Kim, despite him not being the favourite.
"There is a democratic deficit in some international institutions," said Gordhan.
But he hoped an emerging market candidate would emerge at some point and emphasised Kim would receive his full support and, by extension, that of the Brics group also consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China, of which SA is now a part.
In answering a question on SA's startlingly high unemployment rate of 24%, Gordhan said the country was embarking upon a 10-year pipeline of infrastructure projects (the total value is close to a R1 trillion), but that more cohesion between the people, business and government was needed.
He also spoke of the importance of "leading with investment ourselves" and said there was a "huge focus" on broadening the manufacturing sector.
"We want to attract foreign direct investment and new technology," he said.
SA's market improved on Tuesday in line with other Bric markets - the JSE was last up 117 points after losing over 500 points on Monday due to risk aversion.
While the effects of the "Great Recession" continue to haunt sentiment and market performances, Gordhan called for structural reforms to improve growth rates.
While there were some elements of uncertainty, especially in the European Union, Gordhan said "austerity alone will not supply jobs".
Gordhan was disappointed an emerging market candidate had not won the race to be World Bank president to replace Robert Zoellick - it went the way of the US again in the form of Jim Yong Kim, despite him not being the favourite.
"There is a democratic deficit in some international institutions," said Gordhan.
But he hoped an emerging market candidate would emerge at some point and emphasised Kim would receive his full support and, by extension, that of the Brics group also consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China, of which SA is now a part.
In answering a question on SA's startlingly high unemployment rate of 24%, Gordhan said the country was embarking upon a 10-year pipeline of infrastructure projects (the total value is close to a R1 trillion), but that more cohesion between the people, business and government was needed.
He also spoke of the importance of "leading with investment ourselves" and said there was a "huge focus" on broadening the manufacturing sector.
"We want to attract foreign direct investment and new technology," he said.
SA's market improved on Tuesday in line with other Bric markets - the JSE was last up 117 points after losing over 500 points on Monday due to risk aversion.
