South Africa has not been able to make the most of its BRICS grouping membership, and exports mainly raw materials without any added value to its BRICS counterparts Brazil, Russia, China and India, resulting in a sizeable trade deficit within the block.
Getty ImagesSouth Africa has not been able to make the most of its BRICS grouping membership which represents 42% of the global population and contributes about 18% to global GDP.
"It's not necessarily a surplus that we seek here because we might not see that the point is about narrowing or bridging the deficit. It's no use to set a time and in five years time or whatever many years we get to host again, and the trade deficit is deteriorated. What we want to see is a narrowing of the deficit and we want to use the deficit in a positive way, to open up business opportunities for our businesses," Nicolaou said.
The manufacturing sector has one of the biggest deficits with all BRICS countries, this as the sector has come under immense pressure because of mainly load shedding and climatic events that have caused massive disruptions in the industry.The recent Purchasing Managers Index remained in contractionary territory with businesses concerned about the outlook over the next six months. Manufacturing has had mixed outcomes over the last few quarters since contracting by 11.
Nicolaou said part of the problem was the lack of implementation of policies such as the localisation policy. Last month, at the Black Business Council summit, he was critical of how the localisation policy was being implemented by government departments when it comes to procurement. “In South Africa we export half of what we produce in value terms, a year that's roughly about 1$2.8 billion as of last year and if you look at where these products are going, about 40% of our exports go into Africa, Europe about 20% and of course countries in Asia."
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
SA’s Brics trade deficit presents opportunities, says Brics business council leaderThe trade deficit between South Africa and its Brics partners is not insurmountable, Brics business council leader Stavros Nicolaou told the Mail & Guardian.
Read more »
SARS trying to inflict pain on me through my family - Malema | City PressEFF leader Julius Malema has spoken out about how Sars officials visited his aunt’s home because her son is associated with the EFF CIC, and how 'they wanted to inflict pain on me, but they couldn’t find anything'. Read all about it here:
Read more »
Parliament still in ruins – 18 months after it was gutted by fire | City PressICYMI | There are now fears among opposition MPs that the Development Bank of Southern Africa, which was appointed in March to facilitate the rebuilding project, will not meet its deadline to complete the reconstruction by 2025. What are your thoughts
Read more »
Why ANC barred Tony Yengeni from standing for Veterans' League top job | City PressICYMI | Find out about the machinations that saw colourful Tony Yengeni being denied a chance to be a delegate at the ANC Veterans’ League conference, let alone contest for the leadership.
Read more »
Online trading is now a $1bn industry and growing in popularity in SA | City PressToday the local industry is worth about $1 billion per annum and is growing, according to Kamogelo Mosime, partnership manager at Tickmill, an award-winning forex, stock, commodities and bonds broker. Have you made money this way?
Read more »
Celebrity couple's split gets messy | City PressIn the court papers filed weeks after the interim protection order was granted last month, the actor said that the popular celebrity had messaged him asking him if he wanted to have sex before the claims of harassment and abuse were levelled.
Read more »