the eastern cape to other regions, the province has experienced one of the lowest growth rates in recent years. the decline in its economic activity can mainly be attributed to the manufacturing and trade sectors. this slowdown has mimicked the trend in the national economy, which witnessed a contraction in the manufacturing sector of 3, 2 per cent quarter on quarter in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the 8, 1 per cent quarter - on - quarter expansion in the previous quarter. gross domestic product eastern cape department of economic development, environmental affairs and tourism province of the eastern cape website, www. dedea. gov. za eastern cape socio economic consultative council, provincial economic growth, december 2016 the latest unemployment statistics from the quarterly labour force survey show that the number of people employed in the eastern cape grew by 5 000 over the fourth quarter of 2016. at the same time, the number of job seekers grew by 9 000, thus resulting in a slight increase in the unemployment rate : it rose by 0, 2 of a percentage point to 28, 4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016 from the third quarter of 2016. unemployment in the eastern cape is thus above the national unemployment rate of 26, 5 per cent, which in itself is unacceptably high. youth unemployment is even higher, with the national figure at 35, 6 per cent. and considering that the eastern cape is said to have the lowest absorption rate of just over 30 per cent, this means that the challenges in finding a job for the youth in the province are even more daunting. i was, however, very interested to read about the success of the east london industrial zone, which has grown rapidly in the past two years to now account for almost 3 500 direct manufacturing and services jobs, at a time when the manufacturing sector has been struggling considerably. we need more initiatives of this nature to address the unemployment problem in this province. of promise are the processes put in place by national government to revive rural economies. here, for example, i refer to the investment programmes in special economic zones and agri - parks as well as the training initiatives underway for the youth in the eastern cape. the province has also been a strong beneficiary of investment in renewable projects. the coega development corporation has an optimistic outlook for the province in terms of investment, with investment growth expected to reach an estimated r44, 6 billion in 2020. furthermore, the establishment of the beijing automobile international corporation automobile manufacturing plant and other major investment projects

the imf. let me highlight some of the initiatives that the imf undertook in response to requests from the g - 20. firstly, the imf ’ s lending capacity was boosted to ensure that it would comfortably meet the ever - increasing financing needs of countries hit by the global financial crisis, thereby strengthening global economic and financial stability. the g - 20 agreed in april 2009 to increase the borrowed resources available to the imf by up to us $ 750 billion, tripling the total pre - crisis lending resources of about us $ 250 billion. in april 2010, the imf executive board adopted a proposal on an expanded and more flexible new arrangements to borrow, or nab, under which the nab grew to approximately us $ 560 billion. this included 13 new participating countries and institutions, including a number of emerging - market countries that made significant contributions to this large expansion. in april 2012, the international monetary and financial committee 3 ( imfc ) and the g - 20 finance ministers and governors jointly agreed to further enhance the imf ’ s resources through a new round of bilateral borrowing. this round included 35 agreements totalling us $ 385 billion. south africa participated in all these initiatives and contributed us $ 2 billion to the 2012 initiative. the imf, together with the g - 20, revamped its lending framework to provide greater emphasis on crisis prevention tools. for example, the flexible credit line was introduced in april 2009 and enhanced in august 2010 as a lending tool and form of insurance for countries with very strong fundamentals ; qualified countries can have upfront, large access to imf resources, with no ongoing conditions given the strength of their policy frameworks. the precautionary and liquidity line was also designed to meet the liquidity needs of member countries with sound economic fundamentals but with some remaining vulnerabilities. in an attempt to strengthen its credibility and legitimacy, the imf undertook to reform its governance structure and, in april 2008 and november 2010, agreed on wide - ranging governance reforms to reflect the increasing importance of emerging - market countries. however, the latter reforms have unfortunately not been implemented yet and continue to await ratification by the us. nonetheless, the 14th general review of quotas will double the imf ’ s permanent resources to us $ 656 billion. in recent years, the imf has undertaken major initiatives to strengthen surveillance to respond to a more globalised and interconnected world. these initiatives include revamping the legal framework for surveillance to cover spill