Negative growth betrays Ramaphosa’s ‘fundamentally flawed’ approach – EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters said on Tuesday that a 3.2% contraction in GDP showed that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s approach to wresting South Africa’s economic decline was “fundamentally flawed”.

The negative growth recorded for the first quarter of 2019 was the biggest quarterly fall in economic activity since the first quarter of 2009, when the world faced a global economic crisis.

“What these numbers reveal is that President Ramaphosa’s approach to economic growth is fundamentally flawed and will lead South Africa to recession.

“When he became president, Ramaphosa committed to grow the economy through Foreign Direct Investments, and altogether neglected a clearer and cogent focus on the primary sectors of the economy, mainly agriculture and mining,” the statement from the EFF read.

The statement said Ramaphosa refused to accept that higher levels of foreign investments into any economy were almost always in response to domestic productive investments.

“President Ramaphosa should appreciate that globetrotting and appointing special envoys to globe trot will never lead to economic growth. There has to be a clearer micro focus on the domestic economy to boost industrialisation at all levels,” the statement said.

The EFF statement warned against selling of state-owned entities as this would weaken the role of the state in driving economic growth.

“The reality is that the private sector has dismally failed to drive economic growth and development, as they are always obsessed with quick profits,” the statement added.

EFF said leaving the economy in the ownership and control of private capitalist conglomerates had long proven to be a total failure and disaster when it comes to driving economic growth and development.

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