South Africa's economic performance between 1995 and 2000 has been shaped by two main factors. The first is the political transition marked by the country's first democratic election in April 1994, which resulted in the instatement of the ANC government led by President Nelson Mandela. The second is the re-integration of South Africa into the global economy, following more than a decade of substantial economic isolation resulting from the imposition of trade and investment sanctions by the governments of many of the country's trading partners, and the refusal of private financial institutions in most OECD economies to lend to South African public or private institutions.