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The primacy of illicit financial flows (IFFs) in developing countries: a comparative study analysis of South Africa and China

  • Authors: Mahlaba, Asande Cikizwa
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Money -- Developing countries , Transfer pricing -- South Africa , Developing countries -- Economic conditions , Tax evasion -- China , Tax evasion -- South Africa
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147435 , vital:38636
  • Description: The main objective of this study was to question and investigate the primacy of illicit financial flows (IFFs) in developing countries, specifically focused on two countries namely China and South Africa. Africa is estimated to have lost approximately $1 trillion to IFFs over the last 50 years, which exceeds the financial assistance that these nations needed over the same period. For years. Africa has been the feeding ground for exploitation and resource plunder, and the narrative has always been Africa is underdeveloped because of this crime. Although this statement holds true in most African countries, what this paper seeks to do is to question whether capital flight, IFFs and more specifically tax evasion and tax haven activity are the reason for the deterioration of African economies or are IFFs perpetuated by economies with unsustainable growth paths. IFFs are an important factor when it comes to obstacles of economic growth. But are they the cause or effect? A very strong case can be made that they are the latter however, it is beyond the scope of this article to resolve this question. Its purpose is merely to assert that the question is a valid one and that presuming the answer could divert attention from the real question of economic development. This study contextualized the way in which IFFs are currently viewed in the world economic system according to the two approaches to development finance, and discussed modern monetary theory as an extension off these theories. Due to the nature of the study, the methodology employed is a case study approach between China and South Africa by means of extensive numerical and document analysis. Upon conducting this analysis on the primacy of illicit financial flows in developing countries there was difficulty in measuring IFFs. The reason for this is because IFFs have a range of estimates so it was very difficult to produce precise and accurate results. The key findings of this paper were that there seems to be some kind of parallel between developing countries with large volumes of illicit financial outflows, and a dependency these countries have on external debt. This means it seems that weak economies, that are highly dependent on external debt and have large amounts of this debt, seem to have the largest volumes of illicit financial outflows. Weak regulation, high levels of debt and liberalised trade markets seem to be contributing factors to the degree to which companies evade taxes and partake in tax haven activity in these regions. Another key finding was that in 2012, despite China being ranked number one in the the countries which have the largest amounts of outflows on average, it still managed to achieve large amounts growth in the last 20 years. Indicating that there is some form of indication that IFFs could be viewed as symptomatic of weak financial systems and weak economies, instead of IFFs being the core of the problem.
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  • Date Issued: 2020

Investment-grade or “junk” status: do sovereign credit ratings really matter?

  • Authors: Slabbert, Adriaan
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Credit ratings , Rating agencies (Finance) , Developing countries -- Economic conditions , Developing countries -- Foreign economic relations
  • Language: English
  • Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MCom
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/97067 , vital:31393
  • Description: Credit ratings play a well-established part in modern financial markets, reducing asymmetric information between investors and borrowers. In particular, sovereign credit ratings allow the world’s lesser-known economies to access a wider pool of international capital, while simultaneously allowing international investors to access a more diverse set of investment opportunities. The importance of sovereign credit ratings in terms of the cost of government debt in developing nations was observed. The relationship between sovereign credit ratings and average bond spreads over the time period spanning 2006 – 2017 was examined in 25 emerging economies. Regression analysis in the form of fixed-effects and random-effects models was used to determine the impact of changes in sovereign credit ratings on the cost of sovereign debt, controlling for certain macroeconomic factors. It was concluded that sovereign credit ratings are relevant in helping to determine the cost of sovereign debt for developing economies, but that they are not the only factor considered by global markets. The thesis therefore recommended further research into the factors affecting the cost of sovereign debt as well as further refinements to the methodologies that ratings agencies use to assign ratings.
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  • Date Issued: 2019

The impact of trade liberalisation on Cote d’Ivoire

  • Authors: Guei, Kore Marc Antoine
  • Date: 2017
  • Subjects: Trade regulation -- Côte d'Ivoire Free trade -- Côte d'Ivoire , Developing countries -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/17514 , vital:28373
  • Description: The process of trade liberalisation and market-oriented economic reforms was initiated in many developing countries in early 1980s; and it intensified in 1990s. In 1994, Cote d’Ivoire was assisted by the IMF to implement trade-policy reforms under Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). After adopting SAP, the country witnessed soaring balance-of-payment problems, contraction of output, unemployment and the loss of government revenue. Several factors, which were at play resulted in dismal economic performance under SAP. In order to consolidate gains in competitiveness, and achieve high and sustainable growth, the Ivorian authorities coordinated efforts to establish and intra-regional custom tariffs among the member of the West African and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and bilateral agreements. It is against this background that this study is undertaken, in order to evaluate the impact of different trade-policy regimes on trade, welfare and revenue in Cote d’Ivoire. This study used one model: World Integrated Trade Solutions/Software for Market Analysis and Restrictions on Trade (WITS/SMART). The WITS/SMART model was used because of its ability in analysing the tariff effect of a single market on disaggregated product lines. The model also has the capability to analyse the effects of trade-policy reforms in the presence of imperfect substitutes. Using the WITS/SMART model, the study considered seven trade-liberalisation frameworks for Cote d’Ivoire: full implementation of the ECOWAS free trade agreement (FTA), ECOWAS common external tariff (CET), WAEMU CET, WAEMU FTA, EPAs, BFTAs and WTO FTA. The WITS/SMART model reveals that all trade liberalisation scenarios may cause welfare gains – due to the plummeting of prices. However, in all trade liberalisation scenarios, welfare gains were found to be is insignificant. In all cases, welfare gains fell far short of compensating for revenue loss. The impact of trade liberalisation on exports and imports was met with mixed reactions. For the WAEMU customs union and the ECOWAS customs union, and WTO FTA, trade reforms are likely to face serious balance-of-payment problems, as imports exceeded exports by significant margins. With respect to revenue loss, of all trading arrangements, the WTO FTA presents a serious challenge for Cote d’Ivoire revenue followed by BFTAs, ECOWAS FTA, EPAs, ECOWAS CET, WAEMU CET, and WAEMU FTA with anticipated revenue losses. Another challenge for Cote d’Ivoire is the presence of trade creation effects, which were observed in all trade reform scenarios. From this study, it appeared that WAEMU CET poses serious threats of trade creation followed by WTO FTA, BFTA, SADC FTA, COMESA CET, SADC CET, EPAs and WAEMU FTA. Specifically, the study highlighted that Cote d’Ivoire, on balance loses out on trade liberalisation, mainly from revenue loss and possible de-industrialisation from trade-creation effects. The study has also revealed that Cote d’Ivoire offers excessive tax exemptions, which worsens the fiscal position of the country in the face of trade liberalisation. Hence, based on the findings, this study recommends that Cote d’Ivoire needs to call for the design of a financial facility aimed at assisting industries affected by trade-creation effects. The country needs to consider improving the collection of revenue from alternative sources, such as VAT, excise duties, personal and company taxes and excise duty, in order to cushion itself against the revenue loss impact of trade reforms. Government could also consider widening the tax base, by taxing the informal sector, which has been growing rapidly in the past years. In addition, policies aimed at exports promotion, such as export subsidies, trade finance and the strengthening of trade-promotion organisations should be considered. The outcome of this study provides a wake-up call to developing countries engaged in the WTO negotiations and other regional trading arrangements.
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  • Date Issued: 2017

Bank finance in developing small and medium enterprise: an appraisal of relevent determinants in Rwanda

  • Authors: Gatabazi , Emmanuel Thomas
  • Date: 2012-04
  • Subjects: Economic assistance , Developing countries -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25096 , vital:63974
  • Description: This study examines the perceived non-availability of adequate bank financing to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with reference to Rwanda. Evidence from both developed and developing countries show that SMEs are more constrained in their operations and growth than large enterprises and access to finance features importantly among the constraints, with their proprietors typically perceiving finance as their most pressing input constraints. The problem is more severe in less developed countries like Rwanda. SMEs do not get adequate finance from financial systems despite their valuable contribution in the economic development of all nations across the globe. They are well recognized from their contribution to the socio-economic objectives of growth in employment generation, product output, export, and in their function as seed beds of entrepreneurship. This study aims to investigate the causes of the problem and what could be done to mitigate the problem. The primary objective of the study is to determine how to improve the availability of bank financing to SMEs in Rwanda. The argument is that there are SMEs internal factors that cause unavailability of bank financing. Understanding the causes of this problem is important to determining how to improve availability of credit to SMEs. For this purpose, the questionnaire was administered to 122 respondents from four commercial banks and 26 respondents from one development bank. All together 148 questionnaires were administered and 120 questionnaires returned. The response rate was 81 percent. Six major SMEs internal factors which included; business information, collateral, managerial competency, internal funds, networking and ethical practices were investigated to find out their impact on the availability of bank financing to SMEs. Quantitative data were analysed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) with statistical tools including descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and chi-square test. The Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of reliability. While the data from the open-end question analysis involved classifying data, extracting themes, identifying patterns, tallying and quantifying responses and making generalization out of these patterns. This implies that the research methodology focused on the methods, tools and techniques used to assist in achieving the objectives of the study and answering the research questions that the research sought to address. To this end, the study sought the perceptions of bank staff on reasons why bank credit is not available to SMEs. The study focused on four research questions as outlined in chapter one and other relevant sections of the study. The major finding of this study is that there is a significant positive relationship between six SMEs internal factors (lack of business information, lack of collateral, lack of managerial competency, lack of internal funds, lack of networking and unethical practices) and non-availability of banks finance in Rwanda. On the basis of these findings, the study recommended that SMEs owners and staff should be trained in key strategic areas such as business management and financial management to effectively and efficiently manage their businesses and curb information asymmetry. The study also recommends that the government should introduce more practical guarantee facilities to enable banks access the funds as soon as the SME defaults. This will encourage bank to extend more credit to SMEs. Furthermore, the study suggests that the government should categorise SMEs as a priority sector and come up with a policy requiring banks to compulsorily ensure that a certain earmarked percentage of their overall lending is made to SMEs as a priority sector. Lastly, the study recommends that Rwanda Private Sector Federation should conduct trainings on ethical management to SMEs. Unethical behaviours such as deliberately not paying back loans should be heavily punished to limit occurrences of these behaviours among SMEs which may results in huge stock of non-performing loans. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2012
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  • Date Issued: 2012-04

Ties that bind: a critical discourse analysis of the coverage of the Millennium Development Goals in the Mail and Guardian

The theory of economic underdevelopment and its applicability to the Rhodesian economy

  • Authors: Clarke, Duncan G, 1948-
  • Date: 1969
  • Subjects: Zimbabwe -- Economic conditions , Economic development -- Zimbabwe , Developing countries -- Economic conditions
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Honours , BCom
  • Identifier: vital:1114 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014691
  • Description: According to the canons of conventional economic philosophy the process of economic interpretation should be value neutral and strictly fall within the bounds of normative science. This approach is concerned not with goal setting but only with the technical possibilities of alternative means of successful tactics in a given overall strategy. It is the author's thesis that such premises patently ignore the fundamental truths of development problems, and that there exists a genuine need to bridge the gap that demarcates theory from practicality and truth from illusion. To seek "development" implies a challenge to the "status quo" of menial existence and perpetual servitude to the inhospitable forces of ones own environment. This attitude is in itself a value judgement, and in underdeveloped societies it is more than a mere academic quibble. Accordingly, this paper not only implicitly assumes "development" to be a desirable goal but also that it is necessary, and the objective of this study of an underdeveloped community shall be to examine the theoretical relevance, or otherwise, of general and partial theories of underdevelopment against the quantitative and qualitative evidence of the course of events that have in the past, and are likely in the future, to influence the development of the "Rhodesian economy".
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  • Date Issued: 1969
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