Investment conference will create 412,000 jobs: Cyril Ramaphosa

The 2019 edition of the annual investment conference will create 412,000 direct jobs and more indirect jobs.

That's according to the weekly newsletter penned by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said the investment conference held last week had resulted in R363bn worth of commitments from corporates.

This was in addition to R300bn pledged in 2018 towards the president's R1.2-trillion target in five years.

Of the commitments made in 2018, Ramaphosa said, at least R238bn had been invested in projects that had been completed while others were being implemented.

He wrote that it was not only the figures that mattered, but the difference the investment brought to the material conditions of South Africans.

"In the end, however, we do not only measure the success of the investment conference by the amounts pledged, but also by the difference these investments make in the lives of South Africans, particularly the poor and unemployed," said Ramaphosa.

"It is expected that over the next five years, the investments announced last week will conservatively result in the creation of around 412,000 direct jobs and a significant number of indirect jobs.  

"The aim of our investment drive is to create jobs, but also to create other economic opportunities as businesses are established to produce and supply products and services."

Ramaphosa said he was particularly pleased with the increase in investment commitments from local businesses.

South African businesses in 2018 pledged R157bn and committed R100bn more this year.

The president said: "Local businesses are the vanguard of our investment drive, and the scale of commitments made shows they have truly stepped up to the challenge. We are immensely encouraged that our home-grown businesses want to be part of not only economic growth, but of advancing an inclusive economy."

The president called on JSE-listed companies to stop the tendency to invest their cash reserves outside the country.

As at 2017, said Ramaphosa, the cash reserves of listed companies amounted to R1.4-trillion, money he believed should "be used to stimulate economic growth and create jobs locally, instead of being held in reserve or used to fund investments elsewhere".