BANKING SUMMIT
Sharing the load
This year’s Banking Summit aimed to find solutions on how the country can
better fund infrastructure projects, writes Ndivhuho Mafela.
The panel: Ravi Naidoo - Group Executive for Development Planning
(DBSA), Jacqueline Molisane - Financial Analyst (Dept of Public
Enterprise); Andre Smit - Snr Policy Advisor (ASISA), Cas Coovadia - MD
(The Banking Association SA) and Sihlalo Jordan - Partner (Deloitte)
S
outh Africa’s 3.2 trillion rand infrastructure drive
has been put at the heart of the nation’s economic
development plan. Although government has been
calling on the private sector to come to the party,
there hasn’t been a clear plan on how funding of such
projects would be structured.
Stakeholders agree that such projects cannot be funded from the
fiscus alone, therefore public–private partnerships would be the
natural route to take if the country is to experience serious economic
development.
The Banking Association South Africa (The Association) hosted
the Banking Summit 2012 with a strategic aim to find solutions on
how the country can fund infrastructure projects better. The Summit
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THE BANKER
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couldn’t have come at a better time when the National Planning
Commission had just released the National Development Plan.
Sizwe Nxasana, Deputy Chairman of the Banking Association,
welcomed government’s National Development Plan and urged all
South Africans to familiarise themselves with the document as it
addresses key issues such as underdevelopment and unemployment,
which affects the majority of South Africans.
This sentiment was also echoed by Deputy Finance Minister
Nhlanhla Nene who urged the financial services sector to look
at ways of coming up with a plan that will match and fund the
aspirations of the national development plan.
Nene applauded The Association for opening up a dialogue that
seeks to address the challenges facing South Africans today, which