Business for South Africa (B4SA) has, you have by now heard, released a bold new plan requiring the expenditure of R3.4trln in public and private sector money over the next three years, to rebuild South Africa’s infrastructure, replace our useless electricity utility, and place us on the path of green economic growth. How are we going to do it? Easy. Attract a bunch of foreign and local private investment while perhaps also dipping into the state coffers (although not, as the ANC has suggested, by raiding state pensions), implement structural and institutional reforms, apply policy consistency, improve the ease of doing business, address crime and corruption, and restructure SOEs. Among the 12 priority initiatives B4SA has identified are a secure and affordable electricity supply, implementing Transnet's road-to-rail strategy, expanding ports and road infrastructure, and fully exploiting SA's digital spectrum.
Comment: Inspiring stuff. And while inspiration does not put food immediately on the table, at times like this we need as much of it as we can get.