South Africans have been encouraged to buy local products this festive season as this could contribute to improving the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who loosen their purse strings during the upcoming holiday season and buy local instead of imported products could help improve South Africa\u2019s economic outlook by making a dent in the R1.1 trillion per annum presently spent on imports,\u201d Proudly South African said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In addition, consumers will be contributing to developing a stronger job market and rebuilding South African businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough 2020 has been tough and the COVID-19-induced economic malaise which contributed to a 48.9% drop in household spending, the festive season\u2019s direct spending could help the hotel, restaurant, and recreational sector, where income plunged by 99.9%. It is here that spending could immediately help the sector regain some of its lost ground,\u201d Proudly South African Chief Executive Officer Eustace Mashimbye said.<\/p>\n
He said if South Africans buy locally manufactured goods, this could add two percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of demand for South African goods, and our reliance on imported instead of locally manufactured items are dragging down local manufacturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPurchasing locally-made clothing instead of items made in Asian countries would help the local textile and clothing industries, in which about six people a day lose their jobs,\u201d Mashimbye said.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, South Africans spend most between November and January and retail sales spike.<\/p>\n
Consumers are urged to examine the \u2018made-in\u2019 labels on the goods for sale and opted for locally manufactured and produced goods.<\/p>\n
During the COVID-19 crisis, the focus on buying local increased as ports of entry were closed and the movement of goods and services was restricted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis had the effect of introducing local buyers to the high-quality local options available at retail outlets. We need to emphasise that our economy and people need this buying trend to continue. If we can make the return to local goods permanent, we will benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no time like the present. As our \u2018game time\u2019 campaign emphasises, the time for buying local is more important than ever. We are in the second half of the game; we need action if we are to win and build a strong future. We need committed, proud South Africans to take action through their purses and wallets,\u201d Mashimbye said. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africans have been encouraged to buy local products this festive season as this could contribute to improving the country\u2019s economy. \u201cPeople who loosen their purse strings during the upcoming holiday season and buy local instead of imported products could help improve South Africa\u2019s economic outlook by making a dent in the R1.1 trillion per […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-173182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}