South Africa and the World Economy in the 1990s

With the recent announcement of the lifting of sanctions, South Africa stands poised to emerge from years of economic isolation into a world undergoing dramatic transformation. What patterns of trade and investment in the world at large will shape the external environment facing South Africa in the 1990s? And what will make a developing country like South Africa internationally competitive in this decade? Furthermore, what role can international trade and investment play in spurring economic growth in South Africa, alleviating the country's poverty and promoting a more equitable distribution of wealth? These are some of the questions that came under the spotlight at an international conference organized in 1993 by The Aspen Institute and IDASA (The Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa). At this conference, held in South Africa, a number of leading economists and policy advisers from the United States, Asia, Latin America and Africa met to stimulate discussion about a range of critical issues facing the South African economy in the years ahead. This book, like the conference on which it is based, explores South Africa's international economic trends and their implications for South and Southern Africa.