South Africa made it easier for investors to move money out of the country by scrapping a system put in place more than 60 years ago to prevent apartheid-era capital flight. The move to abandon the pre-approval process ends the defensive posture in Africa’s deepest capital market.
Officials at the South African Reserve Bank and National Treasury described the new approach as a “positive bias” system — one that allows capital, including crypto, to move across borders unless flagged as high risk. Authorities hope the redesign will boost foreign investment, the cornerstone of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic revival plan that has increased the influx of private capital into energy, water, and logistics infrastructure. His administration is canvassing investors for 3 trillion rand ($180 billion), much of which would flow to infrastructure upgrades in the network industries.
Across the continent, investors have long cited restrictive or opaque capital control regimes as a deterrent to large-scale commitment, particularly when repatriating profits or exiting investments is uncertain.