The TIPS Development Dialogue on services and industrial policy was held on Tuesday 3 October. Information about the dialogue and speakers, as well as copies of the recording and presentations are available here.   

South Africa’s first quarter trade balance declined to a deficit for the first time since the first quarter of 2019, driven in part by a decline in exports, while imports remained relatively high, even with a R5 billion quarter-on-quarter decline. In all, exports declined by R7 billion to R483 billion in the year to the first quarter of 2023, while imports increased by some R63 billion to R488 billion during the same period.

MyBroadband - 6 September 2023

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Presentations

Dr Neva Makgetla (TIPS) – Services in industrial policy 

Dr Justin Visagie and Prof Ivan Turok (HSRC/UFS) – The Role of Services in the EconomyReflections on TIPS Working Paper

Research

Services and inclusive industrialisation – Neva Makgetla with Nokwanda Maseko and Itumeleng Mokoena (TIPS)

Background

Industrialisation cannot take off without adequate services such as logistics, engineering, finance and security, as well as human and social capital development. Moreover, the service sector generates around two thirds of the GDP and employment, and six out of seven jobs for women. An effective industrial policy, then, should incorporate measures to maximise the contribution of the service industries to inclusive industrialisation. To assist in understanding the role of the service industries in inclusive industrialisation in South Africa, this Development Dialogue provides a chance to engage on a recent TIPS paper that summarises the main debates around the role of services in industrial policy.

About the Speakers

Chair

Thandi Phele is Chief Director in dtic, sectors branch at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and a TIPS board member. Since her appointment, she has been providing thought leadership to South African industrial policy and driving key programmes aimed at industrialisation and localisation. Key among these, she continues to lead the development and implementation of various masterplans led by the dtic: Automotives; Retail-Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather; Poultry; Sugar; Steel and Metal Fabrication; and Furniture.
 
Presenters

Dr Neva Makgetla is a senior economist at TIPS. Makgetla has published widely on the South African economy and worked for many years in government.

Dr Justin Visagie is a Senior Research Specialist in the Inclusive Economic Development (IED) research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and University of the Free State (UFS). Dr Visagie has expertise in microeconomic data analysis and has worked on a wide array of cross-sectional and longitudinal household datasets. His recent research projects cover issues of regional economic development, city-region economies, tradable services, spatial inequality and inclusion, social mobility, urbanisation, housing and migration.

Prof Ivan Turok holds the SARChI in City-Region Economies at the University of the Free State and is Distinguished Research Fellow at the HSRC. Prof Turok has extensive international experience of research on city and regional economic development, tradable services, urbanisation, housing, and labour markets.

PROGRAMME

14:30 Opening and welcome by Moderator: Thandi Phele (the dtic)

14:40 – 15:40 Presentations

• Dr Neva Makgetla (TIPS) – Key findings on Services paper
• Dr Justin Visagie (HSRC/UFS and Prof Ivan Turok (HSRC/UFS) – Presentation on Recognising the role of tradable service exports in the South African economy

TIPS Dialogues bring together academics, policymakers, civil society organisations, workers, and practitioners
to discuss important issues and share ideas on industrial policy.

TIPS is partnering with the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (the dtic).
For more information please contact TIPS via email at: daphney@tips.org.za

The Development Dialogue will be held in a hybrid format allowing for both in-person
and virtual participation. The in-person event will be held at the TIPS Offices
(234 Lange Street, Nieuw Muckleneuk, Pretoria) - space is limited

SAfm Sunrise with Stephen Grootes

Nokwanda Maseko – Senior Economist at Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS)

Dr Tebogo Makube – Chief Director of Industrial Procurement and Development at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition

Ann Bernstein – Executive Director: Centre for Development and Enterprise

Listen here: https://bit.ly/3PFw5g

The seventeenth edition of APORDE took place in September. The programme included three public seminars, both in person and online, including the Annual Alice Amsden Memorial Lecture. If you missed them you can watch them here: APORDE public seminars.

APORDE 2024 - Call for Participants

APORDE is a high-level training programme in development economics which aims to build capacity in economics and economic policy-making. The course is run for two weeks and consists of lectures and seminars taught by leading international and African economists. 

This call is directed at talented economists, policy makers, academics and civil society activists who, if selected, will be fully funded to participate in the course. 

Applications will close on Friday 10th May 2024. Register here

TIPS hosted its Annual Forum 2023 in August on the theme Industrial Policy in an era of global structural change: Implications for Southern Africa. Copies of the papers and presentations available here. If you missed the sessions you can watch the recordings here: TIPS Forum 2023 videos.

TIPS FORUM 2024 - CALL FOR PAPERS

Small Business, Inclusive Growth, and Industrial Policy in South Africa
30-31 July 2024

Find out more or submit your paper >>>

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