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State mulling option on rand: Patel
November 10, 2009
Government will invite all stakeholders to have their say on how best to achieve a more competitive exchange rate, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Tuesday.
"We would like an open discussion," Patel told a media briefing by Cabinet's economic and employment cluster in Cape Town.
"Business and labour have approached us and pointed to the dangers of volatility ...We cannot suppress the messages coming from the private sector."
Patel said the government was studying strategies adopted in Asia and lately in Latin America but made no comment on whether any of these would provide a viable option for South Africa.
He said both government and business were acutely aware that the strength of the rand was making "exporting to other countries difficult" and pushing up imports.
Patel said government was concerned about how to recover the industrial foothold it has lost in recent years once the recession waned and believed the answer lay in increased technological competitiveness.
"We need to ensure that at the end of the recession our manufacturing capacity has not been damaged."
Citing China as an example, Patel said South Africa should either acquire an edge in the speed through which it could deliver technology from the factory floor to first world shop windows or find a way of adding a particular value to the products.
He said the government would produce a detailed action plan in January on how to revitalise the manufacturing sector.
Patel refused to be drawn on the debate between the ruling party and its alliance partners on who controls economic policy, saying Cabinet functioned as a collective. - Sapa
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