IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ememar/v19y2014icp96-105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Commodity prices and exchange rate volatility: Lessons from South Africa's capital account liberalization

Author

Listed:
  • Arezki, Rabah
  • Dumitrescu, Elena
  • Freytag, Andreas
  • Quintyn, Marc

Abstract

We examine the relationship between the South African Rand and the gold price volatility using monthly data for the period 1979–2010. Our main finding is that prior to capital account liberalization the causality runs from the South African Rand to the gold price volatility but the causality runs the other way around for the post-liberalization period. This finding suggests that gold price volatility plays a key role in explaining both the excessive exchange rate volatility and current disproportionate share of speculative (short-run) inflows that South Africa has been coping with since the opening up of its capital account.

Suggested Citation

  • Arezki, Rabah & Dumitrescu, Elena & Freytag, Andreas & Quintyn, Marc, 2014. "Commodity prices and exchange rate volatility: Lessons from South Africa's capital account liberalization," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 96-105.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:19:y:2014:i:c:p:96-105
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2014.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014114000028
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ememar.2014.01.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cashin, Paul & Cespedes, Luis F. & Sahay, Ratna, 2004. "Commodity currencies and the real exchange rate," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 239-268, October.
    2. Rabah Arezki & Mustapha K. Nabli, 2012. "Natural Resources, Volatility, and Inclusive Growth: Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa," OxCarre Working Papers 086, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    3. Jan J. J. Groen & Paolo A. Pesenti, 2011. "Commodity Prices, Commodity Currencies, and Global Economic Developments," NBER Chapters, in: Commodity Prices and Markets, pages 15-42, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. James H Cross, 2003. "Global integration and capital account liberalisation in South Africa," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), China's capital account liberalisation: international perspective, volume 15, pages 104-116, Bank for International Settlements.
    5. Bodart, V. & Candelon, B. & Carpantier, J.-F., 2012. "Real exchanges rates in commodity producing countries: A reappraisal," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1482-1502.
    6. Faisal Ahmed & Rabah Arezki & Norbert Funke, 2007. "The composition of capital flows to South Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 275-294.
    7. Peter Blair Henry, 2007. "Capital Account Liberalization: Theory, Evidence, and Speculation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 887-935, December.
    8. Yu-Chin Chen & Kenneth S. Rogoff & Barbara Rossi, 2010. "Can Exchange Rates Forecast Commodity Prices?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1145-1194.
    9. West, Kenneth D. & Cho, Dongchul, 1995. "The predictive ability of several models of exchange rate volatility," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 367-391, October.
    10. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2009. "The Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012634, December.
    11. Peter Henry, 2007. "Capital Account Liberalization: Theory, Evidence, and Speculation," Discussion Papers 07-004, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    12. Bodart, Vincent & Candelon, Bertrand & Carpantier, Jean-Francois, 2015. "Real exchanges rates, commodity prices and structural factors in developing countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 264-284.
    13. Aghion, Philippe & Banerjee, Abhijit, 2005. "Volatility and Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199248612, Decembrie.
    14. Chen, Yu-chin & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2003. "Commodity currencies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 133-160, May.
    15. Bui, Nhuong & Pippenger, John, 1990. "Commodity prices, exchange rates and their relative volatility," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 3-20, March.
    16. Aghion, Philippe & Bacchetta, Philippe & Rancière, Romain & Rogoff, Kenneth, 2009. "Exchange rate volatility and productivity growth: The role of financial development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 494-513, May.
    17. Jeffrey Frankel, 2007. "On The Rand: Determinants Of The South African Exchange Rate," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 75(3), pages 425-441, September.
    18. Mohsen Bahmani‐Oskooee & Scott W. Hegerty, 2007. "Exchange rate volatility and trade flows: a review article," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(3), pages 211-255, August.
    19. Johansen, Soren, 1991. "Estimation and Hypothesis Testing of Cointegration Vectors in Gaussian Vector Autoregressive Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(6), pages 1551-1580, November.
    20. Johansen, Soren, 1988. "Statistical analysis of cointegration vectors," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 12(2-3), pages 231-254.
    21. Peter Draper & Andreas Freytag & Sebastian Voll, 2011. "Global Financial Crisis, Protectionism and Current Account Deficit," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 12(2), pages 129-152, April.
    22. Ramey, Garey & Ramey, Valerie A, 1995. "Cross-Country Evidence on the Link between Volatility and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1138-1151, December.
    23. Raddatz, Claudio, 2011. "Over the hedge : exchange rate volatility, commodity price correlations, and the structure of trade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5590, The World Bank.
    24. Akram, Q. Farooq, 2009. "Commodity prices, interest rates and the dollar," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 838-851, November.
    25. Gilbert, Christopher L, 1989. "The Impact of Exchange Rates and Developing Country Debt on Commodity Prices," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 773-784, September.
    26. Smith, C. E., 1999. "Exchange rate variation, commodity price variation and the implications for international trade," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 471-491.
    27. John T. Cuddington & Hong Liang, 1998. "Commodity Price Volatility Across Exchange Rate Regimes," International Finance 9802003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 May 1998.
    28. Mr. Michael Mussa & Mr. Giovanni Dell'Ariccia & Mr. Barry J. Eichengreen & Ms. Enrica Detragiache, 1998. "Capital Account Liberalization: Theoretical and Practical Aspects," IMF Occasional Papers 1998/016, International Monetary Fund.
    29. Ito, Takatoshi & Rose, Andrew K. (ed.), 2011. "Commodity Prices and Markets," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226386898, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stan Du Plessis & Monique Brigitte Reid, 2015. "The Exchange Rate Dimension of Inflation Targeting: Target Levels and Currency Volatility," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(2), pages 174-179, June.
    2. Wesseh, Presley K. & Lin, Boqiang, 2018. "Exchange rate fluctuations, oil price shocks and economic growth in a small net-importing economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 402-407.
    3. Salisu, Afees A. & Adekunle, Wasiu & Alimi, Wasiu A. & Emmanuel, Zachariah, 2019. "Predicting exchange rate with commodity prices: New evidence from Westerlund and Narayan (2015) estimator with structural breaks and asymmetries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 33-56.
    4. Monoj Kumar Majumder & Mala Raghavan & Joaquin Vespignani, 2022. "The impact of commodity price volatility on fiscal balance and the role of real interest rate," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1375-1402, September.
    5. Kebalo, Leleng, 2016. "South african exchange rate after 2000s: an econometric investigation," MPRA Paper 72440, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Jamal Bouoiyour & Refk Selmi, 2015. "Exchange volatility and trade performance in Morocco and Tunisia: what have we learned so far?," Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 244-274, November.
    7. Al Jabri, Salwa & Raghavan, Mala & Vespignani, Joaquin, 2022. "Oil prices and fiscal policy in an oil-exporter country: Empirical evidence from Oman," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Themba Mbangata & Ogujiuba Kanayo, 2017. "A Review of the Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks adopted by the BRICS countries (2000-2015)," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 9(3), pages 202-211.
    9. Abimelech Paye Gbatu & Zhen Wang & Presley K. Wesseh Jr. & Isaac Yak Repha Tutdel, 2017. "Causal Effects and Dynamic Relationship between Exchange Rate Volatility and Economic Development in Liberia," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 119-131.
    10. Florence Oluremi Okeowo & Rafiu Adewale Aregbeshola, 2018. "Trade Liberalization and Performance of the Nigerian Textile Industry," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(2), pages 33-47.
    11. Léleng KEBALO, 2016. "What DCC-GARCH model tell us about the effect of the gold price’s volatility on south african exchange rate?," Journal of Economics Library, KSP Journals, vol. 3(4), pages 570-582, December.
    12. M. Tiunova G. & М. Тиунова Г., 2018. "Влияние Внешних Шоков На Российскую Экономику // The Impact Of External Shocks On The Russian Economy," Финансы: теория и практика/Finance: Theory and Practice // Finance: Theory and Practice, ФГОБУВО Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 22(4), pages 146-170.
    13. Afees A. Salisu & Wasiu Adekunle & Zachariah Emmanuel & Wasiu A. Alimi, 2018. "Predicting exchange rate with commodity prices: The role of structural breaks and asymmetries," Working Papers 055, Centre for Econometric and Allied Research, University of Ibadan.
    14. Monoj Kumar Majumder & Mala Raghavan & Joaquin Vespignani, 2020. "Commodity price volatility, fiscal balance and real interest rate," CAMA Working Papers 2020-79, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    15. Trust R. Mpofu, 2021. "The determinants of real exchange rate volatility in South Africa," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1380-1401, May.
    16. Adibi, Nabiollah & Ataee-pour, Majid, 2015. "Decreasing minerals׳ revenue risk by diversification of mineral production in mineral rich countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 121-129.
    17. Duncan, Andrew S. & Kabundi, Alain, 2013. "Domestic and foreign sources of volatility spillover to South African asset classes," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 566-573.
    18. Charteris, Ailie & Kallinterakis, Vasileios, 2021. "Feedback trading in retail-dominated assets: Evidence from the gold bullion coin market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Lu, Xinsheng & Li, Jianfeng & Zhou, Ying & Qian, Yubo, 2017. "Cross-correlations between RMB exchange rate and international commodity markets," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 486(C), pages 168-182.
    20. Matthew Greenwood-Nimmo & Daan Steenkamp & Rossouw van Jaarsveld, 2021. "Risk and Return Spillovers in a Global Model of the Foreign Exchange Network," Working Papers 11014, South African Reserve Bank.
    21. Saeed Rasekhi & Zahra Mila Elmi & Milad Shahrazi, 2016. "Price Bubbles Spillover among Asset Markets: Evidence from Iran," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 20(4), pages 501-523, Autumn.
    22. Percy Mkhosi & Ismail Fasanya, 2022. "Revisiting Interest Rate – Exchange Rate Dynamics in South Africa: How Relevant is Pandemic Uncertainties?," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 69(3), pages 435-457, September.
    23. Debasish Roy & Ramaprasad Bhar, 2020. "Trend of Commodity Prices and Exchange Rate in Australian Economy: Time Varying Parameter Model Approach," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 27(3), pages 427-437, September.
    24. Nasha Maveé & Mr. Roberto Perrelli & Mr. Axel Schimmelpfennig, 2016. "Surprise, Surprise: What Drives the Rand / U.S. Dollar Exchange Rate Volatility?," IMF Working Papers 2016/205, International Monetary Fund.
    25. Leleng KEBALO, 2016. "South African Exchange Rate After 2000s: An Econometric Investigation," Journal of Economics Bibliography, KSP Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 459-481, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yip, Pick Schen & Brooks, Robert & Do, Hung Xuan, 2017. "Dynamic spillover between commodities and commodity currencies during United States Q.E," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 399-410.
    2. Dongwon Lee & Yu-chin Chen, 2014. "What Makes a Commodity Currency?," Working Papers 201420, University of California at Riverside, Department of Economics.
    3. Beckmann, Joscha & Czudaj, Robert L. & Arora, Vipin, 2020. "The relationship between oil prices and exchange rates: Revisiting theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Rodrigo da Silva Souza & Leonardo B. de Mattos & João E. de Lima, 2021. "Commodity prices and the Brazilian real exchange rate," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 3152-3172, April.
    5. Michael Pedersen, 2019. "The impact of commodity price shocks in a copper-rich economy: the case of Chile," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1291-1318, October.
    6. Fuentes, Fernanda & Herrera, Rodrigo & Clements, Adam, 2018. "Modeling extreme risks in commodities and commodity currencies," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 108-120.
    7. Dina Azhgaliyeva, 2013. "What Makes Oil Revenue Funds Effective," International Conference on Energy, Regional Integration and Socio-economic Development 6023, EcoMod.
    8. Jean-François Carpantier, 2021. "Commodity Prices in Empirical Research," Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, in: Gilles Dufrénot & Takashi Matsuki (ed.), Recent Econometric Techniques for Macroeconomic and Financial Data, pages 199-227, Springer.
    9. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2011. "Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 366-420, June.
    10. Bodart, V. & Carpantier, J.-F., 2020. "Currency collapses and output dynamics in commodity dependent countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    11. Wang, Wenhao & Cheung, Yin-Wong, 2023. "Commodity price effects on currencies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    12. Larrain, Borja, 2011. "World betas, consumption growth, and financial integration," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 999-1018, October.
    13. Go, You-How & Lau, Wee-Yeap, 2021. "Extreme risk spillovers between crude palm oil prices and exchange rates," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Pincheira, Pablo & Hardy, Nicolás, 2021. "Forecasting aluminum prices with commodity currencies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    15. Beckmann, Joscha & Czudaj, Robert, 2013. "Is there a homogeneous causality pattern between oil prices and currencies of oil importers and exporters?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 665-678.
    16. Chen, Yu-chin & Lee, Dongwon, 2018. "Market power, inflation targeting, and commodity currencies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 122-139.
    17. Kose, M. Ayhan & Prasad, Eswar & Rogoff, Kenneth & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2010. "Financial Globalization and Economic Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4283-4359, Elsevier.
    18. Jérôme Héricourt & Sandra Poncet, 2015. "Exchange Rate Volatility, Financial Constraints, and Trade: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Firms," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(3), pages 550-578.
    19. Lizardo, Radhamés A. & Mollick, André V., 2010. "Oil price fluctuations and U.S. dollar exchange rates," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 399-408, March.
    20. Blaise Gnimassoun & Marc Joëts & Tovonony Razafindrabe, 2016. "On the link between current account and oil price fluctuations in diversified economies: The case of Canada," Working Papers hal-04141574, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Exchange rate; Volatility; Commodities; Financial flows;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • Q0 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:19:y:2014:i:c:p:96-105. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620356 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.