The appropriateness of monetary integration within SACU
- Authors: Ade, Michael A.
- Date: 2010-02-23T10:12:57Z
- Subjects: Southern African Customs Union , Monetary unions , International economic integration
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6626 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3028
- Description: M.Comm. , The purpose of the dissertation was to determine the appropriateness of forming a monetary union with a common currency within SACU. SACU embodies five neighbouring countries, who are situated in the Southern region of Africa. These countries include: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. The benefits and costs that might accrue to the SACU region with the formation of a monetary union were highlighted in the study. Past experiences of European and African monetary unions have shown that countries who participate in a monetary union were able to pursue credible and disciplined monetary policies. Fiscal and monetary variables determined how appropriate it is to form a monetary union within SACU. The study analysed the level of convergence of fiscal variables and the comovement of monetary variables using statistical analysis and graphical representations. The analysis was essential in assessing the readiness of the SACU states for the eventual formation of a monetary union. Since countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia are small in terms of their respective populations, sizes of their economies, per capita income in comparison to their neighbours such as South Africa and Botswana, the study highlights the fact that regional monetary integration is a useful way of increasing their economic influence and participation in an increasingly globalised world. The study concludes that the formation of a monetary union with a common currency within SACU is feasible and provides some ideas for further studies.
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Macroeconomic convergence in SACU : a panel unit root analysis
- Authors: Maleke, Xaverina Nyatso
- Date: 2010-10-04T07:54:23Z
- Subjects: Southern African Customs Union , Macroeconomics , Convergence (Economics) , Monetary policy , Economic indicators
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:6910 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3421
- Description: M.Comm. , This study uses annual data for five SACU members over the period 1991-2005 to investigate the evidence for convergence in macroeconomic variables. Panel unit root test as an econometric tool is utilised together with other several approaches for this analysis. The results show significant evidence that the SACU countries have reached a reasonable level of convergence on specific macroeconomic variables. This can be attributed to common economic policies and institutional features. It is also evident that the countries that are members of the CMA show a dramatically higher convergence rate. As far as monetary policy is concerned, a high degree of convergence has been achieved in SACU. However, the results show no convergence on fiscal policies. This could be attributed to data constraint on debt to GDP which was used as a proxy for fiscal policy.
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