The Minister of Finance, Mr Tito Mboweni, called on members of the public to make comments on a paper titled: “Economic transformation, inclusive growth, and competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa”.

The paper, prepared by the National Treasury, is an attempt to translate the broad outcomes of inclusive growth, economic transformation, and competitiveness into specific programmes and draw on a range of domestic and international literature to support these policy priorities. This paper considers the contribution of specific growth reforms that can achieve the outcomes of economic transformation, inclusive growth, and competitiveness.

The paper draws on the National Development Plan to outline six themes and the contribution of growth reforms within each theme that prioritize economic transformation, inclusive growth, and competitiveness. The themes include:

• Modernizing network industries to promote competitiveness and inclusive growth
• Lowering barriers to entry and addressing distorted patterns of ownership through increased competition and small business growth
• Prioritizing labour-intensive growth: agriculture and services
• Implementing focused and flexible industrial and trade policy to promote competitiveness and facilitate long-run growth
• Promoting export competitiveness and harnessing regional growth opportunities
• Quantifying the impact of proposed growth reforms

While the deadline for public comment is closed, it is worth reviewing the document to get an idea of where government is heading. It is probable that Minister Mboweni will elucidate on this paper in his Medium-term budget speech in late October. The paper can be downloaded from the following link.