Government to talk to car makers: Gordhan

(Image: GCIS)

This comes after a spokesman for BMW‚ the world's largest manufacturer of luxury cars‚ said last week that it had put on hold its plans to expand local plant capacity‚ as a result of the current environment.

Gordhan told Bloomberg TV in London that this was "a worrying sign".

"We hope to speak to BMW and other automotive companies ... they have an important role to create jobs‚" he said.

The automobile industry in South Africa was "quite resilient"‚ he said. "We will do everything ... down the line to create a better environment."

The minister also acknowledged it was "regrettable" that a four-week strike in the automotive sector had taken so long to be resolved.

He pointed out that "on the plus side"‚ the deals signed between the automotive companies and unions were three-year deals‚ which would create stability.

The strike cost the sector about R20bn and slashed exports by 75%.

Gordhan also called for more certainty in the US Federal Reserve's plans to taper its quantitative easing programme.

"We have had five to six years of shocks to the global system ... that have impacted emerging markets in different ways.

"From a Group of 20 point of view ... we want a more stable environment‚ a predictable environment‚ less shocks‚" he said.

The US government's shutdown and the threat that it could default on its debt was a domestic political issue‚ but as the largest economy in the world it would have a global effect‚ he said

"All of us are going to need nerves of steel for a while‚" he said.