Mbeki hails S African economic showing, jobs record

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CAPE TOWN, June 13 (AFP): South African President Thabo Mbeki delivered a stout defence yesterday of the country's economic showing, asserting that more jobs were being created than at any time in the country's history.
By September, he told MPs, the economy would have been growing for eight solid years, longer than ever before in the country's recorded economic history.
"To the doomsayers who have eyes to see but cannot see the strong performance of our economy, we say check with all these experts and you will discover that they know what most South Africans know," Mbeki said in a keynote parliamentary speech.
Real incomes per person had risen on average by around four per cent per year since 2004, and some 500,000 jobs had been created annually in the same period, Mbeki said.
"Investment has risen steadily from 14.7 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) in the first quarter of 2002 to 19.2 per cent of GDP in the last quarter of 2006," the president said.
"In the last quarter of 2006, investment grew at an annualised rate of 16 per cent, well ahead of our ... target of 10 per cent per year."
Some asserted that many of the new jobs were in cyclical sectors like retail and construction where job security was tenuous. Many also pointed out that many were in the informal sector, said Mbeki.
"Yes, this is true. But does this mean that we should not celebrate the fact that we are now creating jobs more rapidly than ever before in our history? And should we not be proud of the fact that unlike most developing economies most of our jobs are created in the formal sector?"