South Africa Keeps Stimulus, Plans Industrial Policy

“Economic indicators suggest we are now turning the corner,” Zuma said in his state-of-the-nation address to parliament in Cape Town yesterday, which was attended by Nelson Mandela, the nation’s first black president. “It is too soon though to be certain of the pace of recovery. Government will not therefore withdraw its support measures.”

Africa’s largest economy returned to growth in the three months through September, expanding an annualized 0.9 percent, after shrinking in the previous three quarters.

The government sought to limit the fallout of the global credit crisis by increasing the budget deficit, providing loans to distressed companies, setting up a fund to retrain fired workers and establishing public works programs to create temporary employment.

Zuma unveiled plans to increase access to housing, improve literacy in schools and encourage independent electricity producers to supply power to the national grid. A new industrial policy, to be released by the trade ministry within two weeks, will focus on creating “green jobs” and building more labor- intensive industries, he said.

The government’s plans to spend 846 billion rand ($110 billion) on infrastructure over the next three years would also help create work and stimulate growth, he said.