Factor Decomposition Of Sectoral Growth In South Africa, 1970-2007

Chenery's factor decomposition method is used to analyse the sources of growth, by sector, in South Africa from 1970 to 2007. Using input-output data, the growth of each sector is decomposed into components associated with export growth; import substitution; growth in domestic demand; and growth in intermediate demand. The results highlight the dependence on domestic demand expansion as a source of growth in the period since 2000, especially for manufacturing. However, subsectors which relied exclusively or primarily on domestic demand expansion generally performed relatively poorly.