Download or read book The Process of Monetary Integration in Eastern and Southern Africa written by Raphael Abel Kasonga and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Optimum Currency Areas A Monetary Union for Southern Africa written by Christian Sorgenfrei and published by Diplomica Verlag. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the current situation in the European Monetary Union in mind, a Monetary Union in other parts of the world seems highly inadvisable. Nevertheless, Africa has some of the oldest Monetary arrangements in the world, dating back to the beginning of the 19th century. Is Africa particularly qualified for a Monetary Union? And furthermore, what features are necessary to make Monetary Arrangements between countries endurable? This study evaluates the prospects and the feasibility of a monetary union in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from an economic point of view. Both the theory of optimum currency areas and the recent example of the European Monetary Union are employed to analyze the pros and cons of monetary unification. The theoretical implications are operationalized, first, by a broad analysis of economic and socio graphic data, and second, by estimating the degree of structural shock synchronization between SADC countries. Results obtained by an Autoregressive and Vector Autoregressive model indicate that a monetary union which includes all SADC members is neither desirable nor feasible in the foreseeable future. However, the study concludes that a small subset of countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia, could gain from forming a smaller monetary union.
Download or read book The Monetary Geography of Africa written by Paul R. Masson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa is working toward the goal of creating a common currency that would serve as a symbol of African unity. The advantages of a common currency include lower transaction costs, increased stability, and greater insulation of central banks from pressures to provide monetary financing. Disadvantages relate to asymmetries among countries, especially in their terms of trade and in the degree of fiscal discipline. More disciplined countries will not want to form a union with countries whose excessive spending puts upward pressure on the central bank's monetary expansion. In T he Monetary Geography of Africa, Paul Masson and Catherine Pattillo review the history of monetary arrangements on the continent and analyze the current situation and prospects for further integration. They apply lessons from both experience and theory that lead to a number of conclusions. To begin with, West Africa faces a major problem because Nigeria has both asymmetric terms of trade—it is a large oil exporter while its potential partners are oil importers—and most important, large fiscal imbalances. Secondly, a monetary union among all eastern or southern African countries seems infeasible at this stage, since a number of countries suffer from the effects of civil conflicts and drought and are far from achieving the macroeconomic stability of South Africa. Lastly, the plan by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to create a common currency seems to be generally compatible with other initiatives that could contribute to greater regional solidarity. However, economic gains would likely favor Kenya, which, unlike the other two countries, has substantial exports to its neighbors, and this may constrain the political will needed to proceed. A more promising strategy for monetary integration would be to build on existing monetary unions—the CFA franc zone in western and central Africa and the Common Monetary Area in southern Africa. Masson and Pattillo argue that the goal of a creating a s
Download or read book Eastern and Southern Africa Monetary Integration written by Steven Buigut and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper uses VAR techniques to investigate the potential for forming monetary unions in Eastern and Southern Africa. All countries in the sample are members of various regional economic organizations. Some of the organizations have a monetary union as an immediate objective whereas others consider it as a possibility in the more distant future. Our objective is to sort out which countries are suitable candidates for a monetary union based on the synchronicity of demand and supply disturbances. Although economic shocks are not highly correlated across the entire region, we tentatively identify three sub-regional clusters of countries that may benefit from a currency union. We find some tentative evidence that some, though not all, sub-regions may benefit from a link to the Euro.
Download or read book Eastern and Southern Africa Monetary Integration written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Common Monetary Area in Southern Africa Shocks Adjustment and Policy Challenges written by Iyabo Masha and published by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. This book was released on 2007-07-01 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study assesses the experience of the Common Monetary Area (CMA) based on available empirical evidence over the last two decades. It pays particular attention to member countries' adjustment to economic shocks in recent years and the inter-country linkages, including the spillover effects of policies. The paper draws the main lessons from the CMA experience, identifies key policy challenges, and discusses the issues facing the member countries in their efforts to achieve sustained growth. Implications for further economic integration in a broader regional context are also noted.
Download or read book The Economics of the Common Monetary Area in Southern Africa written by John Stuart and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Essays on Monetary Integration in Southern Africa written by Twahibu Kambi Djabir and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the successful introduction of the euro in Western Europe, several regional economic blocs in Africa are planning to launch a common currency as an intermediary step towards the emergence of a single currency for the entire continent. The purpose of this dissertation is to tackle several economic issues related to monetary integration and empirically apply it to the context of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). In the first essay, we estimate trade potentials for southern African countries using the gravity model approach. More specifically, we use the level of infra-regional trade as predicted by the gravity model and compared it with the observed trade in order to assess the trade potentials in the region, as well as the South Africa's trade potentials with its SADC partners. Our results demonstrate that the observed trade flows among SADC countries are largely greater than the ones predicted by the empirical model. We also found that other SADC member countries over-trade with respect to South Africa. However, there are still some unexploited trade potentials for several pairs of SADC countries. The second essay deals with the issue of the choice for the optimal nominal currency anchor to which the national currencies of the region have to be pegged to. Using a panel of 63 countries, we obtained OCA indices à la Bayoumi and Eichengreen for SADC countries vis-à-vis five potential nominal anchor currencies, and we find that the optimal nominal currency anchor for these countries is the US dollar. We also find several pairs of SADC countries which are suitable for a common currency on the basis of the estimated OCA indices. In the last essay, we empirically assess the expandability of the CMA within the SADC by investigating the convergence of monetary policies of each SADC member to that of South Africa, a proxy for CMA. Empirical tests show evidence of long-run relationship between South Africa and two countries, namely Botswana and Mauritius suggesting that these countries may able to follow the leadership of the South African Reserve Bank. Following the results of the Granger-causality test, the leadership hypothesis in the strict sense is rejected for the case of Mauritius and Botswana. However, the only other country which shows evidence of following the South Africa's leadership in terms of Granger-causality is Malawi. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT].
Download or read book Feasibility of Proposed Monetary Unions in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region written by Steven K. Buigut and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dissertation assesses the suitability of countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region for a monetary union. Using VAR techniques the symmetry of the underlying structural shocks is analyzed. The results indicate that supply and demand shocks are generally asymmetric, which does not lend strong support for forming a region-wide currency union at the moment. Although economic shocks are not highly correlated across the entire region, we tentatively identify three sub-regional clusters of countries that may benefit from a currency union. We find some tentative evidence that some, though not all, sub-regions may benefit from a link to the Euro. However, the speed and magnitude of adjustment to shocks is similar across the countries. Therefore, further integration of the economies might lead to more favorable conditions for a monetary union.
Download or read book Economic Integration in Southern Africa written by African Development Bank and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Benefits and Costs of Monetary Union in Southern Africa written by George S. Tavlas and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trade Reform and Regional Integration in Africa written by Mr. Zubair Iqbal and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1998-12-03 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edited by Zubair Iqbal and Mohsin Khan, this volume is a collection of papers given at a seminar on trade issues in Africa, conducted by the IMF nad the African Economic Research Consortium. It represents the views of government officials, academics, and representatives from multilateral and regional agencies on issues relating to trade reform and regionalism in Africa. Issues include the role of trade liberalization in promoting sustained growth, interdependence of trade and macroeconomic policies, impediments to effective trade reforms, the steps needed to accelerate trade reform, and the importance of regional interaction.
Download or read book The East African Community written by Ms.Catherine McAuliffe and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-11-14 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The East African Community (EAC) has been among the fastest growing regions in sub-Saharan Africa in the past decade or so. Nonetheless, the recent growth path will not be enough to achieve middle-income status and substantial poverty reduction by the end of the decade—the ambition of most countries in the region. This paper builds on methodologies established in the growth literature to identify a group of countries that achieved growth accelerations and sustained growth to use as benchmarks to evaluate the prospects, and potential constraints, for EAC countries to translate their recent growth upturn into sustained high growth. We find that EAC countries compare favorably to the group of sustained growth countries—macroeconomic and government stability, favorable business climate, and strong institutions—but important differences remain. EAC countries have a smaller share of exports, lower degree of financial deepening, lower levels of domestic savings, higher reliance on donor aid, and limited physical infrastructure and human capital. Policy choices to address some of these shortcomings could make a difference in whether the EAC follows the path of sustained growth or follows other countries where growth upturns later fizzled out.
Download or read book Should African Monetary Unions Be Expanded An Empirical Investigation of the Scope for Monetary Integration in Sub Saharan Africa written by Mr. Xavier Debrun and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper develops a full-fledged cost-benefit analysis of monetary integration, and applies it to the currency unions actively pursued in Africa. The benefits of monetary union come from a more credible monetary policy, while the costs derive from real shock asymmetries and fiscal disparities. The model is calibrated using African data. Simulations indicate that the proposed EAC, ECOWAS, and SADC monetary unions bring about net benefits to some potential members, but modest net gains and sometimes net losses for others. Strengthening domestic macroeconomic frameworks is shown to provide some of the same improvements as monetary integration, reducing the latter’s relative attractiveness.
Download or read book The Concept of Economic Integration with Specific Reference to Financial Integration in Southern Africa written by Shima Henock Nokaneng and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of the study is to establish how original financial integration could be attained in southern Africa in order to attract more foreign investment and develop a financially robust and stable region in the southern part of Africa: also to deal with the challenges, risks and remedies of prospective future financial crises. Financial markets are rapidly integrating into a single global market. Developing countries of various regions are drawn into the process with little choice, and without having sound financial infrastructure and policies in place. It is against this background that countries and regions of global integration choose policies that would benefit their regional economy and avert potential economic shock. The challenges posed to countries and regions by the progressive global integration of financial markets are becoming more urgent by the day. These challenges need to be addressed more effectively, either nationally or regionally, as demonstrated by the 1998 financial turmoil in Asia. Private capital flows are becoming intra regionally concentrated, particularly in the USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Be that as it may, failure in one market is likely to have immediate and large regional repercussions. Globalisation also marginalises Africa and other Least Developed Countries (LDC), leaving them more impoverished and with greater disparities in terms of income, GDP and FDI. Regional financial integration has to be efficient and sound in order to prevent or contain currency and capital market crises in the southern African region. This study identifies macro economic challenges and risks associated with financial integration. Recommendations are made about methodologies of addressing these issues in order to realise the benefits of regional financial integration in southern Africa, which could be a building block in realising the dream of an African Monetary Union. The study contributes greatly to the debate around the most appropriate criteria that are to be met by the SADC countries, before monetary integration can become a reality. A comparison of the benchmark macro economic convergence criteria of the EU and of the African Monetary Union is done and the performance of SADC countries is assessed in terms of both sets of benchmarks. Southern African states are found to not even be at a comparable level with regard to the EU targets of 1997. The thesis is also critical to the impact of the political instability in the SADC region on prospective monetary integration. Most importantly, SADC would be at a permanent disadvantage and face a long-run depreciation of its common currency, should it continue to integrate financially at macro economic benchmark levels inferior to those of its major trading partner, the EU.
Download or read book Regional Integration and Migration in Africa written by Vusi Gumede and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comparative book debates migration and regional integration in the two regional economic blocs, namely the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The book takes a historical and nuanced citizenship approach to integration by analysing regional integration from the perspective of non-state actors and how they negotiate various structures and institutions in their pursuit for life and livelihood in a contemporary context marked by mobility and economic fragmentation.
Download or read book The Benefits and Costs of Monetary Union in Southern Africa written by G. S. Tavlas and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) having set the objective of adopting a common currency for the year 2018, an expanding empirical literature has emerged evaluating the benefits and costs of a common-currency area in Southern Africa. This paper reviews that literature, focusing on two categories of studies: (1) those that assume that a country's characteristics are invariant to the adoption of a common currency; and, (2) those that assume that a monetary union alters an economy's structure, resulting in trade creation and credibility gains. The literature review suggests that a relative-small group of countries, typically including South Africa, satisfies the criteria necessary for monetary unification. The literature also suggests that, in a monetary union comprised of all SADC countries and a regional central bank that sets monetary policy to reflect the average economic conditions (e.g., fiscal balances) in the region, the potential losses (i.e., higher inflation) from giving up an existing credible national central bank, a relevant consideration for South Africa, could outweigh any potential benefits of trade creation resulting from a common currency.
