This thesis examines South Africa's relations with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private international banks
in the period 1970-1987. The thesis is written in the language, and
uses the conceptual tools, of 'regulation theory', an approach
whose emphasis on 'time-changing' empirically-grounded explanations
of a country's global interactions, it is suggested, represents an
advance over modernisation and dependency approaches.
The thesis traces the altered circumstances of the international
financial system since the early 1970s. It points to the struggle
by the IMF to come to terms with these changes in harmonising a
new international financial system. The IMF has, however, increased
its supervisory power in relation to most countries in the
developing world, especially after the oil-price hike of 1973. The
basis for, and implications of, the explosion in private
international bank lending in this period is also examined.
This analysis is followed by an examination of the crisis in the
South African political economy since the early 1970s and of the
way this crisis was influenced by global events. It is argued that
South Africa's international economic relations were transformed
by both global and domestic forces and came to be dominated by
issues of international finance.
The second part of the thesis examines South Africa's relations
with the IMF and private international banks. This relationship
was supportive of the apartheid state's development strategy for
most of the period 1970-1985. It is argued that until the 1980s,
the relationship also benefited the western industrialised
countries who profited both materially and strategically, from
their economic relations with South Africa.
However, in 1983, the US imposed restrictions on its support for
IMF loans to South Africa. By mid-1985 a combination of political
and economic changes within South Africa forced some foreign banks
to withdraw their normal credit facilities to South Africa. These
events precipitated a dramatic change for the worse in South
Africa's international financial relations. It is argued that
although there has been some improvement in these relations since
1987, the country's relations with the IMF and banks have not
returned to their previous mostly supportive character. A
combination of international, regional and domestic economic and
political factors has ensured that the current crisis in South
Africa's international financial relations is already deeper, more
prolonged, and more damaging to growth prospects, than the crisis
of the mid-1970s. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/6517 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Padayachee, Mahavishnu. |
| Contributors | Freund, William M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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