The purpose of this paper is to present a broad overview of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in South Africa, based on available secondary sources. Because of the nature of the information economy and the requirements for high-level human resources in this sector, the paper also presents an…

The paper examines the impact of financial deepening on long run economic growth in South Africa over the period 1954-92. Two models are developed using the Johansen VECM structure. The first model investigates whether the financial system has a direct or indirect effect on per capita output via the investment…

This study is published by the World Bank in its informal series of Discussion Papers on the South African Economy. It draws on research supported by discussions and interaction with staff from a wide range of South African institutions. Since 1994, South Africa has made undeniable progress across a number…

The past two decades have witnessed far-reaching reforms in the provision of telecommunications services. Before the 1980's, telecoms services were mainly provided by state-owned enterprises and in rare cases by private monopolies with territorial or functional licenses. The 80's saw the role of the state being increasingly changed from that…

By the late 1980s, many of South Africa's corporations were bloated, unfocused and run by entrenched and complacent managers. These firms were sustained and tolerated by a very different environment from that in advanced economies and capital markets. The mainstay of the South African environment was isolation. Tariffs and political…

The determinants of economic growth have long interested economists. A number of variables have been found to be significant, among them the private investment rate, human capital investment rates, the political stability of a country and others. An important sub-category of such determinants is policy variables. Specifically, two such variables…

The 'new economy' remains an ambiguous concept which means different things to different people (see, for example, Cohen et al. 2000; OECD, 2000a, b; Shapiro and Varian, 1999). We argue that the notion of a 'new economy' is closely tied to the economic transformations which are powered by the development…

In order to contribute towards government's goals for 2014 '­and beyond ' the National Industrial Policy Framework (NIPF) vision for South Africa's industrialisation trajectory is:…

This paper tests a 'generalised' version of Thirlwall's balance-of-payments (BOP) constrained growth model by examining the existence of a long-run relation between the output growth rates of OECD countries, South Africa and the rest of the Southern African Development Community (RSADC). Although the policy implications of the study are not…

This paper discusses one aspect of the by now somewhat discredited 'new economy', namely the impact of information and communication technology on the growth in volume and diversity of producer services. It provides an analysis of data on developments within transport, communication, finance and business services in South Africa and…

Because the New Economy is so intertwined with Information and Communications Technology, we are primed to think of New Economy developments as nothing more than technology-driven, productivity improving changes on the supply side. We then want New Economy developments to do what all technical progress has historically done. And we…

This paper presents results based on a recent South African firm-level survey. It examines the export behaviour of South African manufacturing firms, it attempts to characterise the decision to export and it also considers the destination of exports. We find the following: 71% of South African firms export. These firms…

The South African government's objectives of job creation and poverty reduction depend on the success of policies that promote the employment of unskilled labour. Over the past decade, unskilled jobs in the formal sector have been lost, while the demand for skilled capital and labour has risen. In sectors that…

This note presents a first cut at analysing the tariff schedule that is applied to South African imports. The aim is to show various ways in which tariffs on South African imports can be analysed such that DTI can develop in-house capacity to undertake such analysis on an on-going basis.…

South Africa's telecommunications sector is the largest in Africa by important measures, including number of fixed lines, number of cellular subscribers, technological capability, equipment design, manufacturing capabilities, financial revenues, investment and data service users. There has also been substantial and increasing international participation alongside the linked processes of privatization and…

The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the ways in which EU competition policy and specifically Danish competition policy1, aim to protect the interests of not only private consumers, but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a point of departure it is useful to mention that the individual…

In most African countries small and medium enterprises (SME) account for a significant share of production and employment and are therefore directly connected to poverty alleviation. While in many respects the South African economy is different to that of other countries in the continent, for the poor population in the…

TradeInvestSA - 21 October 2007

Post-apartheid South Africa embarked on a trade policy framework to make the economy competitive by engaging the international community. That framework took the economy through a gradual process of reforms that resulted in a shift - from being one of the most protected and distorted markets in the world to the one that reflects openness. The momentum was carried forward by the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994 and implementation of the free trade agreements (FTAs) with the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2000.

Furthermore, South Africa has given consideration to FTAs with China, India, Brazil and Unites States as it tries to broaden trade relations across the globe. The most observable feature of these commitments is the reduction of import protection. This is based on the principle that resources will flow from uncompetitive sectors to sectors with a comparative advantage as competition increases, known as allocative efficiency. The same argument can be used to refer to the trade partners that dominate relations with South Africa: that trade should be biased in favour of the competitive ones at the expense of uncompetitive ones.

View the attached document to read more.

 

The Department of Trade & Industry's (the dti's) Enterprise Development unit is tasked with developing policy and strategy for the small business sector. The objectives of government policy and strategy on enterprise development are empowerment, economic development and job creation. Much progress towards meeting these objectives has been made over…

In 2005, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) - the dti's newly established agency for supporting small business - tasked TIPS to carry out a second annual review of South Africa's small businesses as part of its mandate to support the growth of small enterprise in South Africa, to help…