WEF 2024: Godongwana says energy and logistics is top of SA’s agenda

The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana at a pre-WEF Davos business breakfast in Sandton. Picture: Government X account

The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana at a pre-WEF Davos business breakfast in Sandton. Picture: Government X account

Published Jan 17, 2024

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Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said South Africa was committed to better structural reforms that would foster more economic growth and competitiveness.

Godongwana was speaking at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.

It should be noted that “structural reforms in SA are targeted at electricity, infrastructure, water and logistics, and are driven by Operation Vulindlela,” according to a statement by government.

“There are a number of things we are doing to deal with structural reforms,” Godongwana said and emphasised that energy reform was top of the agenda.

“A new challenge has been the logistics sector, where we are investing a lot in it. We have been trying to change the skills composition to the extent that we don’t have and we have provided an environment where we can import skills with ease,” he told delegates.

“So there are lot of structural reforms that we have engaged in, in order to make sure that we can grow the economy and be competitive.”

RAMAPHOSA WILL SKIP DAVOS THIS YEAR

The energy crisis is top of leadership’s agenda as President Cyril Ramaphosa will not attend the Forum this year in order to maintain focus on issues causing the prolonged load shedding.

According to a spokesperson for the president, Ramaphosa convened a meeting with various leaders of political parties, the National Energy Crisis Committee and the Eskom board on Sunday to address the energy issues that have beleaguered the country.

Vincent Magwenya, the presidential spokesman told Reuters that more meetings are expected to happen this week.

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