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13 July 2009

The leadership team on the framework for South Africa’s response to the international global crisis met today, Monday, 13 July 2009, in Johannesburg with bank CEOs of the big four major banks in South Africa and the Banking Association South Africa. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Economic Development, Mr E Patel.

The meeting discussed various collaborative steps that are required to address the flow of credit and investment finance to the real economy and households in terms of clause of 3.14 of the framework in which it was agreed that Nedlac should engage the financial sector for this purpose.

This meeting was undertaken in the context of ongoing work of the finance and investment task team that has been meeting since March and formulating proposals. These actions follow steps already taken to address the global economic crisis including the establishment of R6 billion facilities which the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has now made available.

The meeting discussed a range of ideas and proposals including:

* Forms of risk sharing between the public and private sectors
* Various types of guarantees for lending
* The need to ensure more effective engagement between debtors and financial institutions.

The meeting agreed that these proposals will be pursued intensively over the next three weeks to achieve resolution on viable strategies. It is planned to report to the President of the Republic of South Africa on the outcome of these and other initiatives as soon as possible thereafter.

Enquiries:
Raymond Parsons
Cell: 083 225 6642

Bheki Ntshalintshali
Cell: 082 563 6973

Lulama Nare
Cell: 082 821 7456

Alan Hirsch
Cell: 082 773 6922

Issued by: National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac)
13 July 2009