The incentives, announced at the start of a two-day trade and investment conference at the province's capital yesterday, include granting a 50% to 100% tax allowance to local and foreign companies which invest a minimum of R50m in manufacturing and selected services, as well as foreign investment grants of up to R3m for companies that acquire new machinery from abroad to establish a manufacturing project in SA.
Ben Mphalele, head of Limpopo's finance and economic development department, said SA's macro-economic stability, wage rate competitiveness and decreasing corporate tax rates made the country an attractive country to invest in compared to other competing emerging markets.
The Limpopo International Investment Conference aims to attract R10bn of this investment and create 5 000 jobs in the next three to five years.
The conference was organised by the province and was attended by more than 200 local companies and about 58 international investors. It comes at a time when international and local economies are challenged by weak global demand and many countries are competing for investments.
To encourage economic empowerment in the province, enterprises that have a more than 50% black ownership, where blacks are adequately represented at management level, and have a maximum turnover of R12m will be given a maximum grant of R100 000 just for their efforts.
The conference also aims to educate investors on the benefits of investing in the Limpopo, which has worked hard to transform itself from being SA's poorest province into the fastest growing provincial economy, with an annual growth rate of more than 6%, outperforming all of the other provinces.
Speaking at the conference yesterday, the Reserve Bank's deputy governor Xolile Guma said human capital was the most important form of capital for the modern economy and the most important ingredient in any economic activity.
