Low business confidence is the single most important barrier to investment in South Africa, which has directly led to low employment growth, says the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME).
In a presentation to parliament this week, the department said much of this stems from inefficient network infrastructure, including:
- Supply-side constraints, including administered prices such as electricity, rail, port tariffs due to high costs;
- Weak execution of the government plans, including delays in auctioning of high demand spectrum, which has resulted in allocative and productive inefficiencies;
- Policy uncertainty and inconsistency, especially in key sectors such as mining
- The slower pace of Covid vaccinations.
Why South Africa can’t create new jobs: government (businesstech.co.za)