Israeli exporters warned on South Africa

Ten timesToday, the Israel Foreign Trade Risk Insurance Corporation published a warning to exporters selling Israeli products to South Africa in light of the upcoming elections in that country.

The company says, “The upcoming elections in the country at the end of this month would harm trade relations between the two countries, similar to what happened in Turkey.” The state-owned company is calling on exporters to take steps accordingly, to “keep their finger on the pulse” and “ensure that they are not overly exposed to customers in South Africa and that they do not actually suffer delays in payments because of them.” The company adds that its insurance service will enable exporters to receive their funds even in the event of a political event in which transferring funds to Israel is prohibited.

While Turkey announced this morning that it would temporarily agree to export Turkish construction products to Israel, concerns are now growing about the complications of Israeli exports to South Africa. Israel's trade with South Africa is much less valuable than its trade with Turkey ($200 million in exports and $150 million in imports annually, compared to billions in trade with Turkey), but exports are concentrated in certain areas: industry, chemicals, and agriculture.

Elections are scheduled to be held in South Africa on May 29, and the ruling African National Congress is likely to be greatly weakened, and may even lose power to the opposition. The latest opinion polls indicate that the ANC will lose its absolute parliamentary majority, but will remain the single largest party, which could lead to political instability. “Various sources estimate that the hostile behavior of the South African government towards Israel, and in particular the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over allegations of genocide in the Gaza Strip, stems, among other things, from fear of this outcome and a desire to divert attention from the situation.” economic and social in the country.

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on May 9, 2024.

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