INTERVIEW-S.Africa Ideal Hub for Regional Investment-P&G

By Stella Mapenzauswa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's strong infrastructure and stable economy offers an ideal lauchpad for home products maker Procter & Gamble's (PG.N) expansion into the region, a senior company official said on Friday.

The world's largest manufacturer of household and personal care products ventured into South Africa after the fall of apartheid in 1994 and is committed to expanding its product portfolio base over the next 100 years, Managing Director for Southern Africa Andrew Peterson told Reuters.

The company presently imports health, beauty and female sanitary products, as well as baby diapers, to its fledgling sub-Saharan African market. It only has a small-scale manufacturing plant in Cape Town.

"We have a long-term view in our perspective, in terms of where we invest and whatever we invest (and) I think South Africa is a natural base for investment. The infrastructure is good, the economic stability is there," Peterson said in an interview on the sidelines of an Economist conference.

The long-term view meant that P&G was able to comfortably absorb operational "bumps" like an electricity crunch that has hit South Africa's mining and manufacturing sectors, as well as fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate.

South Africa's rand currency has shed about 14 percent of its value against the dollar this year.

"Because we import most of our products, we have to manage the exchange rate but that's something which we are used to doing elsewhere in the world," Peterson said.

"Ultimately whether the rand is at 8 to the dollar or 6 rand to the dollar may affect us in the short term, but it's not going to affect our long-term view that South Africa is a good place to invest in for our success both in South Africa and the Southern African Development Community."