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Trade flows and the exchange rate in South Africa

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  • Edwards, Lawrence J
  • Garlick, Robert

Abstract

The exchange rate plays a central role in public debate around trade and trade policy in South Africa. The general view is that depreciation enhances export competitiveness, encourages export diversification, protects domestic industries from imports and ultimately improves the trade balance. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical relationship between the exchange rate and trade flows in South Africa. Trade volumes are found to be sensitive to real exchange rate movements but nominal depreciations have a limited long-run impact on trade volumes and the trade balance, as real effects are offset by domestic inflation. Policy should not focus on the exchange rate, but on the fundamental determinants of the profitability and competitiveness of domestic exporters and import competing industries: productivity enhancement, infrastructure, constraints to business operations and production costs, including labour costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Edwards, Lawrence J & Garlick, Robert, 2008. "Trade flows and the exchange rate in South Africa," MPRA Paper 36666, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:36666
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. By Gunnar Jonsson & Arvind Subramanian, 2001. "Dynamic Gains from Trade: Evidence from South Africa," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(1), pages 1-8.
    2. Alberto Behar & Lawrence Edwards, 2004. "Estimating elasticities of demand and supply for South African manufactured exports using a vector error correction model," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-04, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
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    10. Kevin Nell, 2000. "Imported Inflation in South Africa: An Empirical Study," Studies in Economics 0005, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    11. Lawrence Edwards & StephenS. Golub, 2003. "South African Productivity And Capital Accumulation In Manufacturing: An International Comparative Analysis," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 71(4), pages 659-678, December.
    12. International Monetary Fund, 2006. "South Africa: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2006/328, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Edwards, Lawrence & Golub, Stephen S., 2004. "South Africa's International Cost Competitiveness and Exports in Manufacturing," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1323-1339, August.
    14. Lawrence Edwards & Robert Lawrence, 2006. "South African Trade Policy Matters: Trade Performance & Trade Policy," Growth Lab Working Papers 14m, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    15. Stephen S. Golub & Janet Ceglowski, 2002. "South African Real Exchange Rates And Manufacturing Competitiveness," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(6), pages 1047-1075, September.
    16. Mr. Gunnar Jonsson, 1999. "Inflation, Money Demand, and Purchasing Power Parity in South Africa," IMF Working Papers 1999/122, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Lawrence Edwards & Robert Lawrence, 2008. "South African trade policy matters Trade performance and trade policy," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 16(4), pages 585-608, October.
    18. Lawrence Edwards, 2004. "A firm level analysis of trade, technology and employment in South Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 45-61.
    19. Lawrence Edwards & Volker Schoer, 2002. "Measures Of Competitiveness: A Dynamic Approach To South Africa'S Trade Performance In The 1990s," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 70(6), pages 1008-1046, September.
    20. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee, 1998. "Cointegration Approach to Estimate the Long-Run Trade Elasticities in LDCs," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 89-96.
    21. Andreas Wörgötter & Christopher Loewald & Konstantin Makrelov, 2021. "Addressing low labour utilisation in South Africa," Working Papers 27, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    22. Lawrence Edwards & Phil Alves, 2006. "South Africa'S Export Performance: Determinants Of Export Supply," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 74(3), pages 473-500, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Edwards Lawrence & Hlatshwayo Ayanda, 2020. "Exchange rates and firm export performance in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp2020-1, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Sandile Hlatshwayo & Mr. Magnus Saxegaard, 2016. "The Consequences of Policy Uncertainty: Disconnects and Dilutions in the South African Real Effective Exchange Rate-Export Relationship," IMF Working Papers 2016/113, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Mehmet Demiral, 2016. "Currency Depreciation, Trade Balance and Intra-Industry Trade Interactions in Turkey¡¯s OECD Trade," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(4), pages 8-22, April.
    4. Rahul Anand & Mr. Roberto Perrelli & Boyang Zhang, 2016. "South Africa’s Exports Performance: Any Role for Structural Factors?," IMF Working Papers 2016/024, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Harris Maduku & Irrshad Kaseeram, 2018. "An Empirical Analysis of Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Prices in South Africa (2002-2016)," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(5), pages 187-194.
    6. Lawrence Edwards & Ayanda Hlatshwayo, 2020. "Exchange rates and firm export performance in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-1, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exchange rate; South Africa; international trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade

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