INTERVIEW on economic themes with H.E. Mrs. Thenjiwe Mtintso, South Africa’s Ambassador to Romania

Q - What can you tell ACTMedia readers about the recent development of Romanian – South African economic relations?

A - Trade between the two countries grew in the past year though a lot still can be done especially in relation to improving South African exports to Romania.

Romania’s exports to South Africa amounted to EUR 187.22 million last year, up by over 1.6% y-o-y and the imports registered an increase of 11%, from EUR 33.97 million in 2014 to EUR 37.75 million in 2015.

• SA export to Romania 2014 – 33 966 200 Euro

2015 – 37 751 300 Euro

• SA imports from Romania 2014 – 184 165 800 Euro

2015 – 187 224 900 Euro

Romania’s export/ import statistics to and from South Africa 2014, 2015:

South Africa’s Major Exports to Romania:

South Africa’s Major Imports from Romania:

Q - What about South Africa’s macro-economic indicators in the late years?

A - The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annual growth rate was 0.6 in January 2016. 

The GDP value was 350.09 billion USD in 2014 for a population of 54.96 million.

GDP per capita amounted to 6 086 USD in December 2014.

Inflation rate in South Africa reached 6.2% in April of 2016. 

The unemployment rate in South Africa increased to 26.7% in March 2016.

Foreign Direct Investment amounted to 1942 billion ZAR / 115 000 billion EUR in December 2015.

The South African Government is working on measures towards growing and transforming the economy, creating jobs and attracting investment. We remain optimistic that the continued implementation of such measures will mitigate the current difficult economic situation. Government is doing all it can to attract more investors in order to turn the economy around, create employment, and reduce poverty and inequality. However, the success requires the collective effort of all partners.

Q - Is still South Africa a destination preferred by Romanian tourists? Is there any increase in the number of visas requested by Romanian citizens for South Africa ?

A - 1 435 879 tourist arrivals were recorded in South Africa in March 2016.

There are quite a lot of Romanian tourists applying for visas in order to spend holidays in South Africa. The number of tourist visas increased from 1255 in 2014 to 1688 by 2015 An increase of 433.

2014: Total of visas issued: 1 255

2015: Total of visas issued: 1 688

2016: Visas issued until May: 690

Q - What about development of entrepreneurship in South Africa ?

A - South Africa ranks 75th globally in the 2015 Prosperity Index, having risen by six places since last year. South Africa’s best performance is in the Entrepreneurship & Opportunity sub-index, where it ranks 37th in 2015, according to The Legatum Prosperity Index – South Africa.

The World Bank Group’s data shows that while South Africa is a better place to start a business than most other African nations, there is much room for improvement in order to compete with other economies.

According to a Gordons Institute for Business Science (GIBS) report on Entrepreneurship in South Africa, our entrepreneurial activity is improving but still lags behind in comparison with other parts of the world.

Entrepreneurial activity in South Africa, although very low, has increased marginally over the last 10 years. There has been an increase in women’s entrepreneurship primarily due to government support, but the perception of opportunities to start a business, and confidence in one’s own abilities to do so, remains alarmingly low compared to other sub-Saharan African countries.

The level of business discontinuance still exceeds that of business start-ups, resulting in a net loss of small business activity and subsequent job losses. Like elsewhere in Africa, many of the businesses cite lack of finance and poor profitability as the main reason for shutting up shop.

The typical South African entrepreneur is male, 25 – 44 years of age, lives in an urban area, is involved in the retail and wholesale sector and has a secondary or tertiary level of education.

South Africa's alarmingly high (and growing) unemployment rate has finally encouraged the Government to turn to promoting youth entrepreneurship as a solution. Included in this promotion thereof are tax subsidies and other Government incentives, as well as various initiative programs to help heighten the entrepreneurial spirit that seemed to be lacking in our youth.

Q - How do you evaluate / What is your opinion about the relation with the Romanian authorities?

A - South Africa enjoys good relations with Romania and the Embassy receives all the support it needs from the authorities. Beginning of June we had an appointment with Ms Daniela Gitman, Secretary of State for Global Affairs to discuss amongst other things the possible signing of the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] on Consultations between the two countries. This has been long outstanding. This will mean that annually delegations led by the two Ministers or their representatives will meet at each other’s countries to discuss matters of common interest.

The Mission also has very strong relations with the counties. We are looking forward to meeting the newly elected authorities once they have settled down and are not expecting any changes in the warm relations between our Mission and their counties/cities.

While we are a small Mission we receive all the respect and attention from the authorities.

Q: Thank you

Developed by Codecraftsman