South Africa: Ramaphosa says country must 'recover' to gain new economic ground in global reality

Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa, on Monday said the country must forge ahead for new economy to stand in a new global reality, according to a report by TFS.

In a weekly newsletter, the President said that "we have to both recover the ground that we have lost due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and to gain new ground by placing our economy on a fundamentally different growth trajectory".

"One of the concrete ways that we can do this is by harnessing the job creating potential of the digital economy, whose growth has only been accelerated by the Coronavirus pandemic," Ramaphosa added.

He said that the country's achievement in being world's first destination for business process outsourcing globally is remarkable, as the country was ranked in a survey from eight key sourcing markets including, the USA, Spain, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, France and Australia.

"This is truly a remarkable achievement. In a short space of time, our country has propelled itself from a relatively unknown destination for offshore customer service delivery, in the shadow of large competitors such as India and the Philippines, to the very forefront of the global industry... The story of how this was achieved holds important lessons for what we can do if we work relentlessly as government and social partners towards a common goal," Ramaphosa said.

He further mentioned the advantages the country provides as an attractive business services destination saying, "first, we have sophisticated digital infrastructure, including mobile networks and high-speed broadband. Second, we have a young, dynamic and skilled workforce that delivers a world-renowned quality of service, along with deep knowledge in technology and financial services. Thirdly, we have a high level of English proficiency, and finally, we are positioned in a similar time zone to our key export markets."