South Africa needs to import less and produce more, minister says
10/04/2019
On announcing the funding, the province’s minister for economic opportunity, Beverley Schäfer, said: “We import too much and we produce too little. As a country, our imports of clothing, textiles and leathergoods have sky-rocketed.”
She said that imports into South Africa as a whole of leathergoods, apparel and textiles had a value of around $360 million in 2000, but have now reached levels of more than $4.3 billion per year.
Ms Schäfer said she hoped the stimulus measures would help “rebuild” manufacturing in the Western Cape. She insisted that importing goods from places such as China “makes no sense” because labour costs in South Africa are 45% cheaper.
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