Ramaphosa vows action to shake off economic woes

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued a new pledge to speed up economic reforms, saying concrete steps are going to be taken to get the country's sluggish economy back on track.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa makes the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town on Thursday, June 20. [Photo: China Plus/Gao Junya]

In his first State of the Nation Address after winning the parliamentary election on May 8th, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says economic recovery is the major task of the new administration.

"We cannot turn our fortunes around without a relentless focus on economic growth. Within the next decade, it is our ambition that our economy should be growing at a rate far greater than our population. It is only when we reach consistently high rates of growth that we will be able to reverse the economic damage of our past."

Ramaphosa admits the economic prospect this year is not that positive.

"We make this assertion at a time when the economic outlook is extremely weak.

Following the sharp contraction in growth through the first quarter, South Africa's Reserve Bank now projects that growth this year is likely to be lower than anticipated in the February Budget.

As such, Ramaphosa suggests the economic focus is going to be on stabilizing South Africa's core economic generators, including agriculture, mining and tourism.

"To meet our growth targets, we will rebuild the foundations of our economy by revitalising and expanding the productive sectors. This requires us to reimagine our industrial strategy, to unleash private investment and energise the state to boost economic inclusion. It requires the state to effectively play its role as an enabler that provides basic services and critical infrastructure. We will give priority attention to the economic sectors that have the greatest potential for growth."

Ramaphosa has also laid-out economic targets for the next 10 years, including creating two million jobs for young people, as well as halving the violent crime in the country.

The three-hour speech has met with significant applause.

However, the opposition remains wary of Ramaphosa's grand ambition.

Mmusi Maimane, leader of South Africa's largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, says he's quite disappointed with Ramaphosa's speech.

"No tangible plans. There is no tangible plan on rural safety. No tangible plan on what are we going to do on Eskom. More rhetoric coming from the president. The deep disappointment with the speech today was the fact that it was all based on a dream. But really no tangible plans. "

South Africa's economy declined by 3.2% in the first quarter of this year.

The unemployment rate now stands at 27%, the highest in 15 years.