ASGI-SA is aimed at ensuring that South Africa's economy rises to at least 4,5% in the next five years (2005 to 2010) and about six percent between 2010 and 2014.
Central to it is the government's commitment to reduce unemployment by 50 percent in the second decade of freedom.
A team of 12 economic experts from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of London met with President Thabo Mbeki, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to talk about ASGI-SA at the “see and hear” meeting.
The panel had been working with the Finance Ministry to address constraints in the country's economy focusing on growth diagnostics.
One of the experts Professor Robert Lawrence said ASGI-SA was a remarkable programme meant to change the lives of the people.
“It is very rare for government to come up for criticism and be open for suggestions,” said Professor Lawrence.
Professor Dan Rodrik said government needed to be bold and ambitious about economic growth.
“There is a sense behind the ASGI-SA document that there is a need to be bold and be ambitious,” said Professor Rodrik.
Another member of the group, Professor Ricardo Hausmann said the meeting was about trying to understand how the country wants to make its economic growth sustainable looking at the issue of skills, employment, and competition.
He added that the experts also wanted to understand the cause of high unemployment while South Africa enjoyed economic growth.
“We now want to go back do research and come back with ideas that will contribute towards this country's impressive economy.
“President Mbeki has asked us to think out of the box in order to come up with constructive ideas,” said Professor Hausmann.
The Finance Minister said while ASGI-SA was proceeding in pace, some of the diagnosis needed testing, hence the need to draw lessons from other countries.
“It will differ from country to country, what works in another country might not work in the other.
“They told us that we are not ambitious enough and that we have to be thinking long-term,” said Manuel.
He explained the team was not at the point that it could make firm recommendations, as this was its first meeting.
The experts are expected to give feedback in this regard in about a year's time.
“What we want is that they identify for us at least ten issues we need to think about regarding ASGI-SA and we will see what to do about those,” he said. - BuaNews
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