South Africa's Exports Performance : Any Role for Structural Factors? /

Despite a substantial and prolonged exchange rate depreciation, South Africa's export performance has disappointed since the global financial crisis. In this paper we focus on the role of structural factors in reducing the responsiveness of South African exports to the real exchange rate deprec...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Anand, Rahul
Other Authors: Perrelli, Roberto, Zhang, Boyang
Format: Journal
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2016.
Series:IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2016/024
Online Access:Full text available on IMF
Description
Summary:Despite a substantial and prolonged exchange rate depreciation, South Africa's export performance has disappointed since the global financial crisis. In this paper we focus on the role of structural factors in reducing the responsiveness of South African exports to the real exchange rate depreciation. To this end, we construct a unique database of export performance at the firm level. Our analysis suggests that electricity bottlenecks, limited product market competition, and labor market constraints have reduced the responsiveness of firms' exports to the rand depreciation. On the other hand, a firm's ability to diversify its exports has helped it benefit more from currency movements.
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Physical Description:1 online resource (16 pages)
Format:Mode of access: Internet
ISSN:1018-5941
Access:Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students