Report suggests reforms in SA

INEQUALITY INCREASES AS POVERTY DECLINES Youth must become the main focus to stengthen asset base of the poor.

South Africa’s official marketing agency, Brand South Africa, said yesterday it welcomed a World Bank report which explored key development challenges and opportunities for the country and identified five binding constraints to tackling poverty and inequality.

The report titled Systematic Country Diagnostic – An Incomplete Transition: Overcoming the Legacy of Exclusion in South Africa found the root causes of persistently high poverty, inequality and unemployment were associ- ated with the country’s history of race-based exclusion.

It was prepared in consultation with national authorities and noted that while South Africa underwent a successful political transition in 1994, too many people remained excluded from participating in the economy, “rendering the transition incomplete”.

Brand South Africa general manager for research Petrus de Kock said: “As the World Bank report indicates, poverty has declined since 1994. However, inequality, especially along racial and gender lines, has increased.”

The report recommends focusing on children and young adults as the most critical approach to addressing insufficient skills and implementing reforms that can strengthen the asset base of the poor, while also increasing property security for investors.

It also suggests reforming transport-related state-owned enterprises, including greater private sector participation in order to grapple with low competition and low integration in global and regional value chains.

“Evident from the World Bank’s report is that we need to work as a collective and across all sectors to ensure that our policies encourage the growth and the enhancement of the [national brand],” De Kock said. “Thus an enhanced reputation through clear interventions to tackle corruption, inefficiency, and unethical behaviour in both the public and private sectors can go a long way towards improving domestic and international business confidence in South Africa."

Brand South Africa has a mandate to build the country’s brand reputation in order to improve its global competitiveness. – ANA