Is South Africa serious about services liberalisation?

This research paper examines South Africa's approach to services liberalisation, arguing that despite the sector's significant contribution to the economy, the government maintains a defensive negotiation strategy and allows key network services to remain state-dominated and inefficient.

• The services sector is a primary driver of the South African economy, contributing approximately 67 percent to the economy and over 70% of employment, with some sub-sectors exporting competitively to both developed and developing nations.
• Inefficiencies in protected network services—specifically telecommunications, banking, energy, and rail transport—act as constraints on South Africa's international trade competitiveness and growth prospects. Telecommunications prices are noted as being well above international levels, bank charges are unusually high, energy supply is unreliable due to load-shedding, and rail transport is characterized by high costs and unreliability.
• South Africa's strategy for services liberalisation is described as defensive, contrasting with its outward orientation of the 1990s. While the country has made multilateral commitments via the Uruguay Round in finance, telecommunications, construction, and engineering, it excluded education, energy, and health.
• The author suggests that South Africa missed an opportunity to offer liberalisation in 'non-sensitive service sectors' during the Doha Round, including legal, auditing, research and development, advertising, packaging, printing, publishing, and certain business and cultural services.
• Regionally, the South African government prioritises agreements under the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Trade in Services, a strategy where the threat of competition is low and inefficient domestic providers can easily dominate.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2008). Is South Africa serious about services liberalisation? https://saiia.org.za/research/is-south-africa-serious-about-services-liberalisation/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Is South Africa serious about services liberalisation? 2008. https://saiia.org.za/research/is-south-africa-serious-about-services-liberalisation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Is South Africa serious about services liberalisation? |date=31 August 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/is-south-africa-serious-about-services-liberalisation/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2008south, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Is South Africa serious about services liberalisation?}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = aug, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/is-south-africa-serious-about-services-liberalisation/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }