Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies has called for greater co-operation between BRICS countries to increase investment levels.
Davies expressed concern over a large disparity from BRICS countries investing in South Africa. He was addressing the first day of BRICS Business Council Meeting in Durban.
Earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a $100 billion investment drive over the next five years.
The business council is confident that the target will be reached in a year, with $20 billion already garnered from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
[Watch] 10 reasons why South Africa is a great investment destination #InvestSA #BRICSZA #BRICS pic.twitter.com/iCQSytZDpj
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) July 21, 2018
While working towards making South Africa an investor friendly market, stagnant investment inflow remains a challenge.
” 17.8 billion, that was the inflow of BRICS investment into the South African economy between 2003-2017 and they created 36 850 jobs but actually between 2001-2016 South Africa has invested 68 billion, a larger sum than in other BRICS countries,” said Davies.
Dwindling infrastructure and skills shortage have been identified as barriers for international investors.
“The main challenge I had would be to effectively overcome its structural obstacles impending growth such as infrastructure, labour market constraints and skills shortage,” says New Development Bank Vice President, Xian Zhu.
The BRICS Business Council meeting precedes the 10th BRICS Summit set to take place on Wednesday in Johannesburg.
