LOCALISING NATIONAL GOVT ECONOMIC POLICY AND THE NEED FOR COOPERATIVESTRATEGY

BRIEF OVERVIEW: ECONOMIC HISTORY Pre-1994: stagnation & imminent crisis 1994 to 2001: macroeconomic stabilisation accelerated growth, employment and equity

MICROECONOMIC REFORM STRATEGY Macroeconomic fundamentals in place but: unemployment, poverty & lack of equity Dualistic nature of economy New interventions required to achieve vision 2014 –Integrated Employment Strategy –Investing in economic infrastructure –Investing in human capital –Raising savings & investment levels

ACTIONS REQUIRED Increase income levels of the poor ISRDS and URS implementation BEE and WEE Employment creation Social welfare and use of other grants Accelerated investment in infrastructure (priority projects) e.g IDZs Accelerated skills development & aggressive recruitment of critical skills from other countries Develop and implement appropriate investment incentives such as Critical Infrastructure Fund

WHY ALIGMENT Need to develop strategies within national economic framework Build congruence and synergy between policies and programmes Policy coherence & certainty important for building domestic confidence Joint effort in programmes, initiatives and project have maximum impact

HOW Localisation of MERS basis for partnership Sustained policy dialogue Need to identify key priority projects which national and local spheres of government can work on, e.g spatial initiatives, logistics, economic infrastructure development, joint marketing initiatives etc More effective IGR & coordination of activities between provinces, national & cities Capacity building: strengthening of IDPs ito analysis of economic activities & opportunities: develop economic potential

thank you