Suchergebnisse

For many years, the European Union has been an important market for agricultural products from Africa. However, African agricultural exporters have often found the European market difficult to access because of a raft of NTMs that add to exporters' costs. The trouble with NTMs in the agricultural arena is that, while ostensibly used to uphold health and safety standards, they could have an underlying protectionist intent – which is very difficult to prove. This study explores how NTMs have affected the agricultural export patterns of four African countries (South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) into the European Union market over the period 1992–2014. A four-stage analytical approach was used, which first determined the nature of export diversification during the period and then traced how the countries' export patterns might have been influenced by NTMs, product relatedness, and import-market size. In the study, products were classified at the Harmonized System six-digit level into six clusters, from primary agriculture and agro-processing (food and non-food) items, to product inputs and capital inputs. Together these clusters constitute the agro-complex. Among the main findings were that the European Union share of all four countries' agricultural exports have declined proportionally in the past two decades. Products in the primary agriculture and agro-processing (food) clusters have mainly been subject to SPS measures and technical barriers to trade. Products in the other clusters have been subject to a smaller number of NTMs, notably product quality/performance requirements. A definitive link between waning exports and the prevalence of NTMs could not be established, thus signalling the need for more in-depth research.

'BREXIT' - the exit of Britain (or the United Kingdom) from the European Union (EU) membership as a result of a national referendum on the issue on June 23, 2016.

In our July article we shared some thoughts on implications for South Africa - and specifically agricultural exports, of the 'BREXIT' - the exit of Britain (or the United Kingdom) from the European Union (EU) membership as a result of a national referendum on the issue on June 23, 2016. We ended the article with the well-known Chinese saying that "in change lies opportunity" and stated that in context of agriculture (as well as other sectors) business decision makers and policy makers need to pro-actively start investigating both the potential opportunities and threats that could emanate as a result of Brexit, arguably the most significant event in international trade in the last few decades of global trade developments. In this article we look more into potential realistic export opportunities for South African agricultural exports that may arise as a result of Brexit.

Measured in terms of foreign participation in its domestic financial markets, the major part of southern Africa has to date been largely isolated from international financial markets and the process of financial globalisation. With the exception of South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Mauritius, the region receives negligible amounts of foreign portfolio investment. For the majority of countries, the main types of foreign capital inflows consist of development assistance and foreign direct investment. Foreign portfolio investment, which has hitherto remained largely untapped, may become important in future, especially in view of the dwindling international development assistance to the region. However, portfolio investment is volatile and can be relatively easily withdrawn, posing some financial risk to an economy that has to be managed. This article identifies and assesses possible obstacles to foreign portfolio investment in the region, which could be addressed over time in order to improve the region's competitiveness for foreign investment. (Dev South Afr/DÜI)

How do you create a strong and growing cadre of successful exporters? As will be demonstrated in this article, the current direction towards more open trading policies provides a small part of the solution, but does little to stimulate non‐exporters or develop new exporters. This article proposes a framework which could help all exporters reach their maximum potential and in doing so lay the groundwork for economic growth and prosperity. To ensure that South Africa's economy reaches its fullest potential requires that the government follow up on the RDP and the DTI White Papers focus on exports with solid action. This would require a concerted effort on the part of the government to develop, manage, execute and evaluate programmes to the different needs of the firms at different stages of export development. By using the proposed framework, programmes can be created to help non‐exporters to become exporters, help new exporters to become committed exporters and eliminate the barriers to achieve more export successes

No matter where you look, governments today are focusing great effort on the enhancement of international trade. on persuading more companies to export ever more goods and services. But how. exactly, do we create a strong and growing cadre of successful exporters? This article proposes a framework which may help all exporters reach their maximum potential and so lay the groundwork for economic growth and prosperity

A set of criteria has been identified to evaluate the optimality of currency area formation. The set consists of one political criterion and a number of interdependent economic criteria. According to the economic criteria for currency area formation an optimum currency area is possible in South Africa and the BLS countries. There are practical obstacles, however, and with regard to the political criterion an optimum currency area between these countries is not possible at present. However, a second best option is possible. From time to time, the membership of each member country could be evaluated while economic cooperation and integration (such as the SADU) continues to benefit all the members concerned. ; Hierdie artikel evalueer die monetêre strukture en breë ekonomiese omstandighede van Suid-Afrika en van Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BLS-lande) aan 'n stel kriteria om die eise van die moontlikheid van 'n optimum valutagebied te bepaal, gebaseer op data tot 1987.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.