The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) will meet with the leaders of the main political parties before this year's general elections to discuss how economic policies would be affected under the leadership of a new government.

Speaking at a presentation of the chamber's newest publication, the Business Environment Review and Forecast for 2008/9, which was released last week, CEO Neren Rau said that there were indications that South Africa's economic policies might be "substantially" reviewed when a new government was inaugurated later this year.

He said that when Sacci published its 'Business Environment outlook' report at the end of 2008, there did not seem to be much potential for drastic changes to be made to the country's economic policies, but that a shift now seemed possible.

Rau emphasised that the business community desired economic policy continuity, adding that the diplomatic corps in South Africa had also indicated that it would like to see the continuation of the country's current economic policies.

The leadership of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said in the past that the government would maintain the policies that had spurred a decade of strong growth.

Meanwhile, Rau asserted that another major concern for Sacci and its members was the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu's) calls to have the Labour Relations Act amended to make it even harder for employers to retrench workers.

He said that Sacci strongly opposed such a move, as the long-term sustainability of businesses would be threatened if they found it impossible to retrench some workers during tough economic times.

"Businesses do not take the decision to retrench workers lightly," he commented, adding that Sacci and its members were not unsympathetic to social concerns.

Rau noted that the ANC's manifesto for the 2009 elections, released at the weekend, seemed to be leaning very much towards Cosatu's plans.

Sacci economist Bill Lacey agreed, saying that, in his opinion, the manifesto seemed to have created a conflict between job creation and job protection, with the manifesto leaning more towards the latter.

However, Rau noted that there were also some positives in the ANC's manifesto.

He said that the party had given priority to crime, which was one of the biggest concerns for businesses in the country, and had given particular attention to education and the development of skills.

The issue of ensuring a sustainable energy supply, while also taking into consideration conservation concerns, were also highlighted as positives.

Further, Rau said that government's ability to develop broad skills and specialised skills would also be of importance.

He noted that South Africa's ability to develop specialised skills, instead of broad skills, was questionable at this stage.

In addition, Rau asserted that how the new government balanced its responsibility to Africa and its responsibility to South Africa, would also affect business.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

Meanwhile, Sacci economist Richard Downing said he expected the country's economic growth to be about 1,5% in 2009.

He said that South Africa could very possibly experience two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which would technically mean the economy was in a recession.

However, he asserted that the economy would start improving in the second half of 2009.