ABSTRACT
South Africa was a closed and underdeveloped economy from the beginning of the twentieth century and at least until 1960. This was a time when the dominant trade policy was based on imports substitution. The next 30 years, from 1960 and until 1990, were a little better regarding economic growth, although the country continued being an almost autarchic economy. Thus, South Africa opened itself to the trading world by both reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Due to exports growth in sectors such as agribusiness, mining and manufacturing, the last decade of the twentieth century was a good one in terms of economic growth. As to the Executive, the President is the highest authority and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is the executive body in charge of formulating trade policy. The international trade administration commission and the international trade and economic development commission, are divisions of the DTI.
