TMG Digital/BusinessLive reports that the Department of Trade and Industry approved more than R20-billion in industrial finance this year‚ creating 27,000 direct new jobs and about 108,000 new indirect jobs.  

This emerged from a media briefing on Tuesday by the economic and employment cluster of ministers chaired jointly by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti and Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.  The department's incentive programme incorporates the automotives‚ clothing‚ critical infrastructure‚ film and business process outsourcing sectors, as well as special economic zones and the manufacturing competitiveness enhancement programme.  The incentive expenditure of the department has been criticised by some for being a waste of money, but the World Bank recently noted in an update report on SA that investment tax incentives "have contained job destruction in industrial sectors" and "have encouraged additional investment in agriculture‚ construction‚ manufacturing‚ trade and other services".

• Read this report by Linda Ensor in full at TimesLive

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