R18.9bn in earnings for Coega SEZ investors

Investors in Coega’s special economic zone (SEZ) earned R18.9bn in income for the 2022/2023 financial year.

This is an annualised increase of 15.9% on the R14.3bn investors made in the 2020/ 2021 financial year.

The latest figures were revealed in a Stats SA Coega SEZ census report which measured the economic activities of investors for the financial year July 1 2022 ending on June 30 2023.

The report was handed over by Stats SA to the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) yesterday.

Stats SA provincial head Ziyanda Ntlebi said the report was essential because it addressed gaps in the national statistics system.

“One of them is the quality gap. We do not have credible information we can use for planning,” Ntlebi said.

“It also speaks to the information gap. We do not have some economic data, which we do not have at lower levels.”

For the first time since the biannual report was started in 2018, it got a 100% response rate.

The report measures income, employment, capital expenditure and the value of imports and exports in the SEZ.

Since 2021, seven new enterprises have started operating at the special economic zone — increasing to 43.

And despite all the new tenants being non-manufacturing businesses, the manufacturing contribution to income increased by 3.7 percentage points from 69.5% in 2021 to 73.2% in 2023.

Investor expenditure during the period was R17.9bn.

CDC acting chief executive Themba Khoza said the report helped to give a credible picture of the performance of the special economic zone.

“We take pride in the data that is being produced and it talks to our objectives as the CDC,” Khoza said.

“The last report was produced during the Covid-19 years, which means there could have been some limitations at the time.

“We now need to look postCovid-19 and say where are we and if we are recovering.”