SA to finance projects worth R1 bn

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s state lender Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) will finance projects worth one billion rand in the next 12 months as part of a government plan to boost economic growth, the company said yesterday.

Some 600 million rand in loans would go to a scheme to promote jobs while 100 million rand was earmarked for helping new entrepreneurs set up franchises, IDC said in a statement. The rest was allocated to projects that creates jobs in horticulture and to promotes black ownership in forestry.”Competitive financing for development (is) one of the key instruments to enhance investment activity and therefore contribute to elevating South Africa’s economic growth rate,” IDC CEO Geoffrey Qhena said in the statement.”The financing is for the period up to December 2006,” added IDC spokesman Dante Mashile.Growth in Africa’s largest economy has been robust in the past couple of years and is expected to average four per cent this year, up from 3,7 per cent in 2004.The government has targeted six per cent growth by 2010 in order to dent high levels of poverty and unemployment and has vowed to boost public infrastructure spending to achieve this.It says state lenders like IDC are at the heart of this drive.-Nampa-ReutersThe rest was allocated to projects that creates jobs in horticulture and to promotes black ownership in forestry.”Competitive financing for development (is) one of the key instruments to enhance investment activity and therefore contribute to elevating South Africa’s economic growth rate,” IDC CEO Geoffrey Qhena said in the statement.”The financing is for the period up to December 2006,” added IDC spokesman Dante Mashile.Growth in Africa’s largest economy has been robust in the past couple of years and is expected to average four per cent this year, up from 3,7 per cent in 2004.The government has targeted six per cent growth by 2010 in order to dent high levels of poverty and unemployment and has vowed to boost public infrastructure spending to achieve this.It says state lenders like IDC are at the heart of this drive.-Nampa-Reuters