Even though the approaches, assumptions and results may vary greatly in the macroeconomic models employed in estimating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the South African economy, the overriding message that these models convey remains the same: the cost of HIV/AIDS to South Africa will be significant in economic, social and…

This paper looks at social mobility in the context of a growing economy. The nature and extent of Black affluence in South Africa provides an indicator of the impact of efforts to eradicate the remnants of apartheid-era racial discrimination in the South African education system and labour market. Most studies…

The province of KwaZulu-Natal (henceforth KZN) is an important contributor to overall national economic performance in South Africa. In 1996, data from the Census of Manufacturing emphasised that KZN ranked second after Gauteng across a series of economic indicators (see for instance Annex Table 1 - part 1, p. 86).…

This paper uses the Johansen VECM estimation technique to examine the directions of association between savings and growth in South Africa over the period 1946- 1992. We examine the aggregate private saving rate and its interaction with investment and growth. The paper finds that the private saving rate has a…

The South African economy is unable to deliver employment for a growing number of would-be workers, especially among the unskilled. There is a need for state intervention to address this failure, and public works have been identified in the national policy discourse as a central policy response, to address both…

South Africa simultaneously lost more than 890,000 jobs and increased the number of skilled workers from 1989 to 1999. We argue this is the consequence of well-documented acute apartheidera distortions which led to a current coordination failure where (i) firms are locked into a mostly skill-intensive technology where they have…

There are two major economic and social security challenges facing South Africa: addressing large-scale unemployment and the AIDS pandemic. As of 2003, an estimated 14% of all South Africans were HIV-positive, with over a thousand people dying each day of AIDS. According to the government household and labour-force surveys conducted…

The Cancun Ministerial Conference ended on 14 September after Chairperson Luis Ernesto Derbez concluded that members remained entrenched on the "Singapore" issues. Shortly before 18:00 Cancun time, Mexican Trade Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez formally closed the Fifth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference, without agreement on a Ministerial Text. The…

In this report we make an assessment of the transport sector in Botswana by analyzing policy and performance in the air and road transport sectors. The study had several other objectives among which was to identify reform needs for the two sectors, facilitate ease of comparison among SADC countries and…

In spite of the trade liberalisation efforts that have characterised the 1990s, it is apparent that imports by the manufacturing sector have remained more or less constant in real terms, whereas imports by agricultural industries have witnessed a decline in imports. Declining imports of business services have also been manifest…

In economics, the effects of tariff protection and tariff reform remain a contentious, fervently debated issue.1 In South Africa, decades of high tariff protection, of which domestic manufacturing sectors primarily benefited, are being followed by a period of substantial tariff reform. To this end, endorsement by the South African government…

Only a handful of sectors have shown an increase in their demand for labour, amongst others, Leather Products, Plastic Products, Wood and Wood Products, Wholesale and Retail Trade, Printing and Publishing, Medical Services, Basic Chemicals and Other Chemicals and Television and Communications Equipment producers (Table 17). In terms of labour…

During September 10-14, 2003, WTO members met in Cancun for a mid-term review of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, launched in November 2001. Trade ministers entered the 5th WTO Ministerial divided on agricultural and non-agricultural negotiating modalities, on whether to launch negotiations on the so-called Singapore issues and their…

The international commodity market is increasingly characterized by a fall in the relative value of products mainly due to increased competition. Because of the competitive pressures in the global market place, it is not surprising that exporters from economies that rely relatively more for their well being on the export…

In this short report we examine South African trade with Brazil for decade up to 2001. First we look at the absolute values, trends, patterns at the aggregate level and somehow disaggregated level of 22 commodities clusters. The aim of this section is to provide a first round analysis of…

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are widely used for policy-analysis in many countries. In the past a number of CGE models have been developed for South Africa, and used to assess a broad range of policy issues. However, the perceived complexity of this analytical approach, and the concentration of capacity…

Poverty in South Africa is severe. Zero-rating food can possibly reduce poverty as poor households spend the largest proportion of their income on food. Zero-rating food can also reduce the regressiveness of Value Added Tax (VAT) for the same reason. However, zero-rating food will results in a loss in revenue…

Poverty is multi- faceted and can be manifested in hunger, unemployment, exploitation and lack of access to clean water, sanitation, health-care and education. Poverty is not confined to any one racial group in South Africa, but it is concentrated amongst Blacks, particularly Africans. There is a need to monitor poverty…

In 2000 the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) of the South African government announced its plan to break Spoornet into separate businesses and concession them to the private-sector. Two years later, after more than eight months engagement with the railway trade unions, government accepted that this plan made no developmental,…