The Exchange Control Amnesty and the Repatriation of Foreign Capital, 2003-2005

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Periodical article

Title:	The Exchange Control Amnesty and the Repatriation of Foreign Capital, 2003-2005
Author:	Gidlow, Roger
Year:	2006
Periodical:	South African Journal of Economic History
Volume:	21
Issue:	1-2
Period:	September
Pages:	124-140
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	financial policy capital movements History and Exploration Economics and Trade Politics and Government
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/10113430609511194
Abstract:	South Africa's national budget, presented by its Finance Minister on 26 February 2003, incorporated some significant moves that accelerated the process of progressively liberalizing the long-standing exchange control regime. The move away from the old financial regime was speeded up by starting to release blocked rand balances held by emigrants from South Africa, and by introducing an exchange control and tax amnesty for residents. This amnesty was the first of its kind to be introduced in South Africa. The amnesty represented an effort to allow capital to be repatriated back to South Africa, which previously had been transferred abroad mainly on an illegal basis in defiance of exchange control regulations. This article explains the amnesty's main features, and addresses issues which arose from it by considering its effectiveness, and its implications for the domestic economy. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]