BRICS can define equitable trade partnerships
22 August 2023
South Africa will, this week, host its International BRICS partners and world leaders during the historic BRICS Summit themed "BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development, and Inclusive Multilateralism". We are humbled by the participation of many world leaders, especially from the African Continent. South Africa is positioned as a gateway to Africa and this summit will open opportunities for the continent at large.
The Summit comes on the back Of the African National Congress BRICS Political Parties Dialogue held at the Oliver Tambo Centre in July. The Dialogue placed a particular emphasis on defining a path towards an equitable and developmental trade partnership within BRICS nations.
Research conducted by the ANC Monitoring and Evaluation Unit confirms that our economic policies are impactful and are steadily growing the economy. According to this research, South Africa's economy has the potential to expand by 3% by 2024. The country's power situation has improved, with less loadshedding during winter. Implementing renewable energy and storage projects is expected to increase the energy grid capacity during the warmer months.
In Quarter 2, the mining industry experienced a growth of 1.5% due to increased production.
Similarly, the manufacturing sector grew by 2.3% during the same period, with seven out of ten manufacturing sectors expanding in size compared to the previous year. Wholesale trade sales and motor trade sales also saw an increase of 1.6% and 4.8%, respectively, in Quarter 2.
BRICS represents a great opportunity to increase economic output. For example, China and India collectively contributed up to 14% of total exports in 2022. One of the fastest-growing customers of South Africa's exports was India in 2022, up 20.2% from 2021. Recognising these stats, we also see BRICS as an opportunity to improve our trade deficits with the respective BRICS partners by improving our manufacturing and industrialisation capabilities to enable increased exports of beneficiated products to their markets.
With the electricity crisis easing, the country's economy could experience an average growth rate of 2% to 2.5% over the next five years. More than 13,300MW of private renewable energy projects are underway, and primary agricultural employment has reached its highest level since Quarter 4 of 2016, providing work for almost 894,000 people. The agricultural sector has recorded the highest employment level since the last quarter of 2016 and is well above the long-term agricultural employment of 780 000.
We remain confident that the BRICS Summit will help drive our tourism sector to a higher trajectory. Tourism has demonstrated its strong performance and consistent growth over time.
Foreign tourist arrivals increased by 46.5% in June 2023 when compared to June 2022, indicating exponential growth in the sector. BRICS Summit will contribute towards sustaining this momentum.
The expansion of the BRICS working groups to include mining, industrialization, infrastructure expansion of least developed nations, health, and the just energy transition will offer opportunities to deepen cooperation. These are critical areas for attaining sustainable development and a significant opportunity for the bloc to demonstrate its resolve and capability.
Issued by ANC, 22 August 2023
