Between Gatekeeper and Gateway : Taking Advantage of Regional and Global Value Chains by Addressing Barriers to South Africa’s Trade Competitiveness

Draper, Peter ; Engel, Jakob ; Krogman, Heinrich ; Ngarachu, Anna ; Wentworth, Lesley

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN;    TRADE POLICY;    COMPETITIVENESS;    LOGISTICS;    REGIONAL INTEGRATION;   

RP-ID  :  130966

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

South Africa's weak post-apartheidtrade performance has been a significant factor in itsinability to create more jobs and achieve higher growth andproductivity. Exports and inbound foreign direct investmentas a share of gross domestic product have lagged othermiddle-income countries and both have declined in absoluteterms in the past five years. South Africa is losing marketshare in many of its core export products, both because itis being outcompeted by more dynamic economies in East Asiaand owing to its own supply-side and institutionalconstraints. This loss of global competitiveness inmanufacturing has meant that more South African firms haveturned to the domestic economy and to less demanding exportmarkets in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. While SouthAfrica can continue growing through a primarily regionallyfocused strategy, these markets are small, and defaulting tothe lower levels of productivity required to compete in therest of Africa could undermine South Africa'scompetitiveness in the long term. This paper provides anoverview of South Africa’s recent trade outcomes, as well asits trade policy framework, and assesses the causes of itsdisappointing performance. In turn, it suggests changes totrade-related policies as well as the governance andmanagement of these policies. The paper focuses in depth onthree specific trade-related constraints: transport costs,the institutional governance of trade tariffs and exportpromotion, and overall economic policy uncertainty. Thepaper proceeds to argue that the South African governmentwould benefit from aligning its trade strategy, commercialand economic diplomacy and industrial policy with the dualobjective of providing both the engine for a "FactorySouthern Africa" that encompasses the rest of the SADCregion, and of being the region's gateway to the restof the world. Since South African firms will not be able todrive this approach on their own, this necessarily meansforging policies and institutions that encourage investmentsinto South Africa and the SADC region, and working withneighbors to maximize the development of regional valuechains that result from such investments.