“This paper analyses the reasons for the relative immunity of the SADC economies from the immediate and damaging effects of financial contagion. The paper examines the impact of the Asian crisis in 1997 and the Russian crisis in 1998. There are several ways in which Southern African economies might be affected in the medium term by these crises, including their impact on the prices of primary commodities exported, reduced demand (particulary in Asia) for Southern African exports, increased competition in other export markets from Asian countries with sharply devalued currencies, and the broader impact of reduced growth of the global economy. The focus of this paper however, will be on “financial contagion”, which is the immediate (although sometimes temporary) impact on financial markets in a country, from a financial crisis elsewhere.”
