South Africa's government has unveiled a $3.2 billion stimulus plan aimed at boosting industrial output and creating jobs in sub-Saharan Africa's largest economy.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced the six-year package during his mid-term budget speech in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Gordhan said the government's key challenge is to make South Africa more competitive in a bid to protect it from global economic turbulence.

The finance minister blamed the European debt crisis for South Africa's slowing economy. Gordhan slightly lowered the country's economic growth forecast for 2011, from 3.4 percent down to 3.1 percent.