Country Information - South Africa

ECONOMIC BACKGROUND South Africa is a middle-income, developing country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However, growth has not been strong enough to cut into high unemployment, and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially the problems of poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. Other problems are crime, corruption, and HIV/AIDS. At the start of 2000, President Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment, and to reduce poverty by relaxing restrictive labor laws, stepping up the pace of privatisation, and cutting unneeded governmental spending. The economy slowed in 2001, largely the result of the slowing of the international economy. Since then, South Africa's economy enjoyed sustained growth backed by stable interest, inflation and exchange rates. Click here for Country Map [23kB]

BI-LATERAL TRADE OVERVIEW South Africa is one of the United States' leading trading partners in Africa, and accounts for the most diverse trade flows. Total trade between the two countries has been increasing steadily in recent years, with South Africa holding an increasing trade surplus since 1999. This amounted to $ 3,3 billion in 2006. U.S. exports to South Africa far exceed US exports to any other country from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), emphasising the importance of the latter’s access to the South African market. In terms of SSA exports to the United States, South Africa's exports rank second after those of Nigeria, with Gabon’s exports being in third position. However, the latter two countries' AGOA exports consist mainly of energy-related products (mostly oil), whereas South Africa's AGOA exports were highly diversified. Exports qualifying under AGOA amounted to $ 1,8 billion in 2006 (2005: $ 1,5 billion), although this figure includes exports under the GSP program, of which AGOA is essentially an extension (see link to Country Trade Profile below). Exports of products that were added under AGOA amounted to $ 717 million in 2006 (2005: $ 455 million). Of South Africa’s exports of textiles and apparel to the US in 2006 ($ 47 million), $ 42 million were AGOA-eligible items. South Africa does not benefit from the 3rd country provisions, and is required to source local or regional fabric made from African or US yarn. According to full year 2006 data, key exports sectors under AGOA were ‘chemicals and related’, ‘minerals and metals’, ‘transportation equipment’ and ‘agricultural products’ (See link to detailed trade profile below). Detailed bilateral trade data for this country, disaggregated by industry sector, can be accessed by following the link below. Aggregate data featuring all AGOA-eligible countries is updated on this website as soon as new data is published, including ranked AGOA / non-AGOA trade, aggregate trade by industry sector as well as the latest apparel trade data. Click here for Detailed Trade Profile