Download or read book South Africa s Exports Performance written by Rahul Anand and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite a substantial and prolonged exchange rate depreciation, South Africa’s export performance has disappointed since the global financial crisis. In this paper we focus on the role of structural factors in reducing the responsiveness of South African exports to the real exchange rate depreciation. To this end, we construct a unique database of export performance at the firm level. Our analysis suggests that electricity bottlenecks, limited product market competition, and labor market constraints have reduced the responsiveness of firms’ exports to the rand depreciation. On the other hand, a firm’s ability to diversify its exports has helped it benefit more from currency movements.
Download or read book South Africa s Exports Performance written by Rahul Anand and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Comparative Analysis of the Determinants of South Africa s Export Performance in Selected SADC Countries written by and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Consequences of Policy Uncertainty written by Sandile Hlatshwayo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-06-09 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the link between the real effective exchange rate (REER) and exports in South Africa has weakened. While exports still rise in response to REER depreciations, the REER-export elasticity is below historical estimates. The literature has put forward a number of possible explanations, from multi-national supply-chains to muted exchange rate pass-through. This research explores the role of policy uncertainty in reducing the responsiveness of exports to relative price changes. We construct a novel “news chatter” measure of policy uncertainty and examine how it, paired with other supply-side constraints, can improve our understanding of export performance. We find that increased policy uncertainty diminishes the responsiveness of exports to the REER and has short and long-run level effects on export performance. Finally, we show that a measure of competitiveness that adjusts for uncertainty and supply-side constraints greatly outperforms the REER in tracking exports performance.
Download or read book South Africa s Trade and Growth written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book South Africa s Exports Performance written by Rahul Anand and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite a substantial and prolonged exchange rate depreciation, South Africa’s export performance has disappointed since the global financial crisis. In this paper we focus on the role of structural factors in reducing the responsiveness of South African exports to the real exchange rate depreciation. To this end, we construct a unique database of export performance at the firm level. Our analysis suggests that electricity bottlenecks, limited product market competition, and labor market constraints have reduced the responsiveness of firms’ exports to the rand depreciation. On the other hand, a firm’s ability to diversify its exports has helped it benefit more from currency movements.
Download or read book Trade for Growth written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Determinants of South African Exports written by Andre Renier Gouws and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study takes an eclectic approach drawing on historic, theoretical and empirical sources to identify the main factors influencing the pattern and direction of South Africa's trade. Rather than focusing on and proving or disproving individual theories, it looks at the broadly at various determinants of trade rather. Each of the theories that have been accepted as part of the canon of international trade theory explains part of the picture. This study therefore focuses on informing policy and therefore identifies and critically evaluates the determinants of South African exports and the role these determinants should have in policy development. Trade volume is usually seen as determined by the level of income level and relative prices. These are in turn determined by the dynamics of each GDP component (investment, consumption, public expenditure, exports): the price competitiveness of domestic production (influenced by exchange and relative inflation rates): non-price competitiveness of domestic production (product quality, technological innovativeness, design, promotion): the country's attitude toward foreign goods: historical links with certain origin countries: and economic integration. This study attempts to isolate the determinants of export prices and volumes for the different manufacturing sectors. It will give policy-makers a clearer understanding of exporters and the factors that contribute to export growth, and will in turn inform policies, programmes and other export schemes. This information will allow the evaluation of the impact of their decisions and policies on each of the sectors' export performance. Different sectors and industries face a myriad of different, and often unique conditions: elasticity, technology, market supply positions etc., and will therefore react differently to different policies. While government makes policy decisions that impact on the whole economy, it simultaneously has programmes that assist firms (particularly the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA)). This micro-level support and macro-policy must therefore operate together and complement each other. After setting the global and domestic scene, highlighting relevant events and trends that effect trade, this study critically evaluates international and South Africa applications of classical and new trade theories. From these processes, determinants are identified. Econometric models are then applied to test these determinants empirically. These techniques are applied to South Africa's various sectors and industries thus giving macro- and meso-determinants. Qualitative techniques are then used to determine specific drivers at a firm level. From this a model is proposed for specific interventions to assist new exporters enter global markets, and to retain and grow existing exporters. Based on sound economic theory and the empirical findings from these research approaches, policy recommendations are made. In an increasingly competitive and uncompromising world, the role of sound policy is fundamental to economic success. This thesis argues that policy must be comprehensive and made with an understanding of the critical interactions in place.
Download or read book The Role of Exports in South Africa s Economic Development 1961 1976 written by W. N. Meyer and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Prices Endownments and Transaction Costs written by Philip Alves and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book South Africa s Export Predicament written by Ricardo Hausmann and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trade and Industrial Development in Africa written by Moyo, Theresa and published by CODESRIA. This book was released on 2015-03-02 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book revisits the perennial challenge that scholars, economists, and politicians have been grappling with since the 1960s. Development, in this book, has been defined in a context that projects it as a multidimensional and complex process which seeks to enhance the human, social, economic and cultural welfare of the people. This book calls for a rethinking of trade and industry for Africa's development. It uses data drawn from national development plans and strategies, and trade and industry issues have been prioritized at the continental level, in key policy documents. On the whole Africa's industry and trade performance have been poor in spite of national, regional, and continental plans. The contributors to this volume propose some alternative strategies and policies which are necessary for trade and industry to grow and to contribute to the well-being of Africa's people. It calls for a developmental trade and industry policy which, fundamentally, must be people-centred. African states should invest time, energy and resources to develop policies which will take into consideration African realities.The different contributors are aware that Africa has experienced strong economic growth in the recent past but this growth has largely been due to a strong demand for Africa's primary commodity exports. It has also been a result of increases in productivity and domestic investment and remittances from Africans living in the Diaspora. It is important to note that despite this unprecedented growth performance, the impact of trade and industry on development has been limited. The book argues that a structural transformation of Africa's economies is inevitable if Africa is to achieve the shift from the dominant paradigm of production and export of primary goods. The various contributors to this book agree that there is need to rethink policy and strategy in order to achieve industrial development in Africa. There is no unique solution or answer that can fit all situations as African countries are not the same. While Africa can draw lessons from other regions which have successfully industrialized, this book argues that policies and strategies will have to be adapted to country-specific situations and circumstances.
Download or read book South African Trade Policy Matters written by Lawrence Edwards and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South African trade policy has exerted a major influence on the composition and aggregate growth of trade. In the Apartheid period, trade protection seriously impeded both exports and imports, and the economy depended on favorable global commodity price trends to avoid running into an external constraint. South Africa developed a comparative advantage in capital-intensive primary and manufactured commodities partly because of its natural resource endowments but also because the pattern of protection was particularly detrimental to exports of non-commodity manufactured goods. High and opaque tariffs seriously impeded export growth. When global commodity markets were weak, in combination with declining gold exports, this seriously constrained aggregate growth and dulled the response of exports to the weaker rand in the late 1980s. On the other hand, surcharges were effective in reducing imports. By contrast, trade liberalization in the 1990s not only increased imports but, by reducing both input costs and the relative profitability of domestic sales, also boosted exports. The growth in non-commodity manufactured sectoral exports as a result of liberalization was actually faster than sectoral imports. This evidence suggests that additional trade liberalization could well be part of the strategy to enhance export diversification. It points to the importance of policies that afford South African firms with access to inputs at world prices as well as a competitive real exchange rate.
Download or read book Can Africa Export Manufactures written by Ibrahim Elbadawi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: May 1999 - Africa's poor performance in manufactured exports in the 1990s (relative to East Asia) appears to be largely the result of bad policies-especially policies that affect transaction costs. Elbadawi analyzes the determinants of manufactured exports in Africa and other developing countries, guided by three pivotal views on Sub-Saharan Africa's (Africa's) prospects in manufactured exports: Adrian Woods holds that Africa cannot have comparative advantage in exports of labor-intensive manufactures (even if broadly defined to include raw material processing) because its natural resources endowment is greater than its human resources endowment (endowment thesis); Paul Collier argues that, for most of Africa, unusually high (policy-induced) transaction costs are the main source of Africa's comparative disadvantage in manufactured exports (transaction thesis); A third approach (Elbadawi and Helleiner) emphasizes the importance of stable, competitive real exchange rates for profitability of exports in low-income countries (exchange rate-led strategy). Elbadawi tests the implications of these three views with an empirical model of manufactured export performance (manufactured exports' share of GDP), using a panel of 41 countries for 1980-95. His findings: Corroborate the predictions of the transaction thesis, in that transaction costs are major determinants of manufactures exports. Investing in reducing these costs generates the highest payoff for export capacity; Lend support for the exchange rate-led strategy. After controlling for other factors, ratios of natural resources per worker were not robustly associated with export performance across countries, but this cannot be taken as formal rejection of the endowment thesis - unless one is prepared to assume that manufactured exports' share of GDP was highly correlated with ratios of manufactured to aggregate (or primary) exports. But this is not unlikely. This paper-a product of Public Economics, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to research manufactures exports' competitiveness. The author may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book Importing and Firm Export Performance written by Lawrence Edwards and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This article uses firm-level data from company income tax and customs declarations from South Africa to analyse the complementary relationship between direct access to imported intermediate inputs and firm exports in the manufacturing industry. There are two main findings. The first is on firm heterogeneity, showing that firms that import and export consistently demonstrate premiums in terms of productivity, employment, wages and capital intensity in production compared to firms that do not trade, or only export or import. The second supports the hypothesis that importing raises exports, especially if inputs are sourced from advanced economies. Full paper available at https://doi.org/10.1111/saje.12154.
Download or read book Africa agriculture trade monitor 2020 written by Bouët, Antoine, ed. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-10-05 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2020 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor, the third in this series of flagship reports, presents an overview of trade in agriculture products in Africa and highlights the main impediments that affect intra- and extra-African trade. This year’s report includes chapters focusing on intra-Africa trade integration for agricultural products, including the role of nontariff measures, and on the competitiveness of African value chains that are crucial for food security (cereals, sugar, vegetable oils). The importance and measurement of informal cross-border trade for agricultural products is also examined. The final chapter looks at regional integration experiences in Southern Africa, with a focus on the Southern Africa Development Community. The report offers policy recommendations for improving agricultural exports performance, especially in the context of the unprecedented uncertainty the world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Download or read book Understanding South Africa s Trade Policy and Performance written by Matthew Stern and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
