.Most countries in the SADC region experience low levels of domestic savings. This calls for the need to explore other sources of financial flows to bridge the gap between domestic capital demand and supply, and one such source is external financial flows. It is with this background that this study examined the relationship between the different forms of external financial flows, domestic savings and economic growth in the SADC region for the period from 1980 to 2013. Firstly the study examined the impact of the different forms of external financial flows on economic growth in the region. The empirical results revealed that FDI, CBF and remittances have a significant impact on economic growth in the SADC region. ODA was however found to be insignificant. When the different types of external financial flows were interacted with institutions they all became significant in explaining economic growth in the region. The second aspect was to examine the extent to which external financial flows complement or displace domestic saving. The empirical results revealed that external financial flows with the exception of ODA complement domestic savings in the region. In addition, there is evidence of investment generating additional savings in the region, which is likely to be through the economic growth channel. The last objective of the study was to examine the determinants of external financial flows to the SADC region. The empirical results revealed that both push and pull factors are important in determining external financial flows in the region. Of great importance was the observation that events in the source country determine financial flows to the region. Proxy for financial integration was found to be positive though insignificant, pointing out that the region may not be benefiting from cross-border bank flows due to the region being disintegrated. This suggests that the region may benefit from increased cross-border bank flows if the region is integrated. Overall, the results from the study suggest that external financial flows are important to the region in providing the much needed development finance. However this also suggests that the foreign capital channel is another source in which a crisis from a developed country can be transmitted to the SADC region.

The volatility of stock markets has important implications for investment decision making, financial stability and overall macroeconomic stability. This study examines the risk-return relationship as well as the behaviour of volatility of the South African equity markets using both aggregate, industrial level and sector level data. The study is divided into three parts. The first part investigates the behaviour of volatility in each of the industries, sectors and the benchmark series focussing on whether volatility is symmetric or asymmetric. Subsequently we investigate which, among the GARCH family of models appropriately captured the riskreturn relationship under which distributional assumption. The second part examines the riskreturn relationship on the SA stock market. The third part examines the long term trend of volatility and whether volatility significantly increases during financial crises and during major global shocks. The GARCH-M, EGARCH-M and TARCH-M models under the Gaussian, Student –t and the GED are used. The findings this study makes are as follows: firstly, there is no clear relationship between risk and return. Secondly, volatility is asymmetrical, implying that bad news has a greater effect on volatility than good news in the South African equity market. Thirdly, the TARCH-M model under the GED was found to be the most appropriate model. Fourthly, volatility increases during financial crises and major global shocks. Overall, volatility is generally not priced on the South African equity markets. Thus, both local and international investors need to consider other factors that influence returns such as skewness. The general increase in volatility during financial crises and major global shocks poses a major concern for policy makers as this may cause financial instability. Thus policy makers need to be mindful of the behaviour of volatility in the South African equity market in response to external shocks.

This study considers the nature of savings behaviour amongst low income earners residing in the township areas of Kouga Municipal District. It reflects on the popularity and persistence of informal savings and credit associations, also known as stokvels, in these communities in the face of an increase in the availability of formal savings products. This study argues that despite financial deepening taking place within the South African economy, the popularity and widespread usage of stokvels can largely be attributed to the lack of appropraite formal products available for low income earners. This study does not conclude that the usage of informal savings products results in increased savings behaviours amongst this group, but it does conclude that they provide a suitable mechanism in which savings can take place.

This study examined whether or not financial intermediation can explain the variations in the savings-investment ratio in South Africa during the period 1990 to 2012. The study specifically tests the McKinnon Conduit Effect hypothesis which states that increasing interest rate raises the capacity of financial savings via financial intermediaries based on data from South Africa. Apart from informal graphical test, this study employed formal tests such as the Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips Perron stationarity tests to test the properties of the variables considered, including interest rates, for stationarity. In order to ascertain the long-run and short-run dynamics between its variables, the Johansen co-integration test is utilized, while the Error Correction Mechanism is also employed. Results from the study state that financial assets (a proxy for financial intermediation), income and real interest rate all positively impact the savings-investment ratio. Additionally, short-run analysis results showed that income, financial assets and real interest rates positively influence the savings-investment ratio. Real interest rates were seen as being both positive and statistically significant. Therefore the study recommended that the financial services sector and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) should work together as this will result in the improvement of efficiencies in price discovery with regards to bank charges, access to banking facilities and the timely provision of services in order to encourage savings (for investment purposes) in the South African economy.

Thesis (MDF)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African financial sector is developed by world standards, surpassing those of other emerging and developed countries. However, despite all this development in the financial sector, the country has low levels of savings. This contradicts some of the available literature which explains the link between financial development and savings. Based on this background, the study empirically examines the relationship between financial development and savings mobilization in South Africa, employing the Johansen cointegration test for the period 1980 to 2012. Based on the lifecycle hypothesis, a model linking savings and its determinants was specified. The empirical results revealed that there is a long-term relationship between savings and the other variables used in the model. The different measures which were employed to measure financial development were found to be positive and significant, implying that financial sector development impacts positively on savings. An interesting observation from the empirical results is the negative relationship between the rate of interest and savings which implies that South Africans are net borrowers as the income effect surpasses the substitution effect. This in part explains the low levels of savings being experienced by the country since an increase in the rate of interest results in people paying more to service their debt and hence a reduction in savings.

<p>In South Africa, as in many developing countries, most households are poor and do not save, as a result of which they do not acquire any positive net worth and which also constrains access to formal means of finance. South Africa is a consuming nation, with increasing ratios of household consumption resulting in dissaving and often unsustainable levels of household debt, which is also stimulated by the current lower level of interest rates. This situation is worse amongst poorhouseholds who also often experience financial shocks, for instance because of the death of family membersas a result of HIV/AIDS. This report provided an overview of household saving in South Africa for the period 1983 to 2003. It identified the main factors responsible for the lack of a commitment to saving which are particularly relevant in the case of poor households.</p>

<p>In South Africa, as in many developing countries, most households are poor and do not save, as a result of which they do not acquire any positive net worth and which also constrains access to formal means of finance. South Africa is a consuming nation, with increasing ratios of household consumption resulting in dissaving and often unsustainable levels of household debt, which is also stimulated by the current lower level of interest rates. This situation is worse amongst poorhouseholds who also often experience financial shocks, for instance because of the death of family membersas a result of HIV/AIDS. This report provided an overview of household saving in South Africa for the period 1983 to 2003. It identified the main factors responsible for the lack of a commitment to saving which are particularly relevant in the case of poor households.</p>

Magister Economicae - MEcon / In South Africa, as in many developing countries, most households are poor and do not save, as a result of which they do not acquire any positive net worth and which also constrains access to formal means of finance. South Africa is a consuming nation, with increasing ratios of household consumption resulting in dissaving and often unsustainable levels of household debt, which is also stimulated by the current lower level of interest rates. This situation is worse amongst poorhouseholds who also often experience financial shocks, for instance because of the death of family membersas a result of HIV/AIDS. This report provided an overview of household saving in South Africa for the period 1983 to 2003. It identified the main factors responsible for the lack of a commitment to saving which are particularly relevant in the case of poor households. / South Africa

A Research Report submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Commerce (Economics/Economic Science) in the School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, September 2018 / This study investigates the determinants of household savings in South Africa using panel data estimation techniques and National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data for the period 2008-2015. Results show that household savings habits in South Africa are strongly driven by sociodemographic factors such as income, relative income, asset ownership and white population group representation. Whereas household size, home ownership, household expenditure and black population group representation remain plausible arguments for household dissaving in South Africa. To some extent, these findings imply that strategies to increase household savings in South Africa should improve the distribution of income and employment among the population. There is also a need for an in-depth analysis as to why and how the country’s black population can be encouraged to improve on household savings. / XL2019

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: High levels of gross national savings reduce a country’s reliance and exposure to the vagaries of the global capital market. On an individual level, delaying consumption and providing for future needs and prosperity is a necessary condition to improve or maintain the quality of life. India and China’s gross national savings and, in particular, their household savings rates are higher than those of South Africa. Within the context of sustaining the global competitiveness of these developing countries - each with a burgeoning middle class – there is a need to ensure that policy formulation recognises the consumption and savings needs of this segment of the population. With a view to understanding the reasons why the household savings rates of China and India are so high in comparison to South Africa, this report investigates whether (and to what extent) South African policy makers can learn from China and India in the design of its policy framework to reduce consumption and create a savings culture. This research project is a comparative analysis of the determinants of household savings behaviour in China, India and South Africa, with specific reference to the consumer behaviour of the middle class consumer in each country. The comparative analysis draws on secondary sources such as journal articles, books, completed research and the Internet. While India and China have high household savings rates, this is not as a function of policy reforms that were introduced to encourage saving. Rather, an absence of sufficient financial sector development and a weak social safety net, coupled with a collective household culture and attitude that values saving ahead of consumption, that has resulted in households in India and China, and in particular middle income households, saving to ensure adequate provision is made. In South Africa, the impacts of financial liberalisation and a flawed social security system have resulted in a failure to provide broad based income protection. Increased consumer access to financial services coupled with a coherent social security structure and continued government investment are critical threads that must pervade the reform agenda in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hoë bruto nasionale spaarvlakke verminder ’n land se afhanklikheid van en blootstelling aan die wisselvalligheid van die internasionale kapitaalmark. Op ’n individuele vlak is die uitstel van verbruiksbesteding en voorsiening vir toekomstige behoeftes en voorspoed ’n voorvereiste vir die verbetering of handhawing van lewenspeil. Indië en China se bruto nasionale spaarvlakke, en in die besonder hul huishoudelike spaarkoerse, is hoër as dié van Suid-Afrika. Binne die konteks van die volhoubare wêreldwye mededingendheid van hierdie ontwikkelende lande – elk met ’n ontluikende middelklas – is daar ’n behoefte om te verseker dat beleidsformulering die verbruiks- en spaarbehoeftes van hierdie segment van die bevolking erken. Om te probeer verstaan waarom die huishoudelike spaarkoerse in China en Indië so hoog is in vergelyking met Suid-Afrika, ondersoek hierdie verslag of (in en watter mate) Suid-Afrikaanse beleidvormers by China en Indië kan gaan kers opsteek ten opsigte van die ontwerp van sy beleidsraamwerk om verbruik te verminder en ’n spaarkultuur te skep. Hierdie navorsingsprojek is ’n vergelykende ontleding van die bepalende faktore van huishoudelike spaargedrag in China, Indië en Suid-Afrika, met spesifieke verwysing na die verbruikersgedrag van die middelklas verbruiker in elke land. Die vergelykende ontleding gebruik sekondêre bronne soos joernaalartikels, boeke, voltooide navorsing en die internet. Hoewel Indië en China hoë huishoudelike spaarkoerse het, is dit nie ’n regstreekse uitvloeisel van beleidshervormings wat ingestel is om spaar aan te moedig nie. Dit is eerder ’n gebrek aan voldoende finansiële sektorontwikkeling en ’n swak maatskaplike veiligheidsnet, tesame met ’n kollektiewe huishoudelike kultuur en ingesteldheid wat groter waarde aan spaar heg as aan verbruik, wat daartoe gelei het dat huishoudings in Indië en China, en veral middelklas huishoudings, spaar om genoegsame voorsiening te verseker. In Suid- Afrika het die impak van finansiële bevryding en ’n gebrekkige maatskaplike welsynstelsel gelei tot ’n onvermoë om breedgebaseerde inkomstebeskerming te verskaf. Groter verbruikerstoegang tot finansiële dienste, tesame met ’n samehangende maatskaplike welsynstruktuur en volgehoue staatsinvestering, is kritieke temas wat die hervormingsagenda in Suid-Afrika moet deurvleg.