South Africans should go out and take up opportunities on the African continent, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has said.
Addressing reporters this morning ahead of his budget speech in Parliament, Gordhan said South Africa has not fully recovered from the global economic crisis of the past five years, but all isnt dull either.
He said South Africans shouldnt be complacent. What South Africans need to do as the public and private sector is to seize potential opportunities on the African continent even more strongly than they have, he said.
He added they should also go and seize the opportunities that might arise, and probably will arise, from a better global environment.
He said businesses should also make some tough calls about increasing the synergies between the public sector and the private sector. South Africans werent very good at this, he said, but there were good examples of synergy in the renewable energy sector.
He also said government was committed to ensuring that we create the right climate for investment but he cautioned South Africans should tell a more positive story.
South Africa is a noisy place. Sometimes perception is stronger than facts, he said.
Carien du Plessis@carienduplessis#budget201426 February 2014 14:29