Business Report reports that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has put aside R15 billion for sustainable growth and job creation.  

In a statement on Wednesday, Director-General Lionel October said the department’s target, as well as the entire budget for the new financial year, would be spent trying to industrialise the country and broaden the manufacturing sector, as well as support businesses that have a globally competitive niche in the continent.  “The projected number of new jobs to be supported and number of jobs to be retained from enterprises is set at 6,000 while 800 projects have been approved through our incentives schemes to support enterprises in different sectors of the economy,” October indicated.  He went on to say that the number of jobs might increase due to the upstream and downstream effect because for every one job created in the manufacturing sector, four other jobs were created indirectly.  So, the new job figure might go up to 24,000, in addition to the 6,000 jobs initially targeted.

• Read this report in full at Business Report

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page