Vavi said this during the launch of a joint declaration by the country’s three major trade union federations and a grouping of important South African manufacturers in Johannesburg to create decent jobs.
“The declaration calls for interventions to ensure an appropriately valued, competitive and stable currency,” Vavi said.
A competitive currency would allow manufacturing to compete on a similar footing to other developing countries, he said.
“The Chinese economy has grown because the Chinese actively intervene in their currency and they peg it at a particular level.
“Government from time to time speaks about the need for the rand to reach a competitive level, but we only really hear this in the budget speech or the state of the nation address,” he said.
Vavi said the Reserve Bank had confirmed it bought “lots of dollars”, but this was not enough. “We need to see some aggression in terms of the competitiveness of the exchange rate and more needs to be done.”
He also called for a reduction in real interest rates, as well as the introduction of concessional finance for productive investment.
The three major trade union federations represented at the launch of the declaration are Cosatu, the Federation of Unions of SA and the National Council of Trade Unions .
Local companies that signed the document include ArcelorMittal SA, Consol Glass, Hulamin, Bell Equipment and Altron.
Source: The Sowetan
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