South Africa’s foreign trade gap soared nearly nine-fold to ZAR9.95bn ($719.2mn) in August chiefly due to a plunge in the value of commodity exports, preliminary data from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) showed. Moreover, the July shortfall was revised substantially to ZAR1.11bn from an initial estimate of ZAR397mn.
The data sends disappointing signals for the country’s ailing economy after the trade balance’s encouraging swing into surplus for the first time since Q4 2011. The Q2 trade surplus of ZAR14bn, or 0.4% of GDP, was achieved on the back of increased global demand and weakening rand coupled with waning domestic demand. It helped for the narrowing of the country’s problematic current account deficit to 3.1% of GDP from 4.7% in Q1.
South Africa’s exports fell 5.9% m/m to ZAR87.63bn in August, driven down mainly by a 20% drop in exports of both mineral products and base metals.
At the same time, imports grew 3.6% m/m to ZAR97.58bn chiefly due to a 22% rise in imports of vehicles and transport equipment, and a 12% increase in imports of both mineral and chemical products.
For the first eight months of the year, South Africa’s trade gap totalled ZAR36.27bn, 48% smaller y/y. Exports grew 5.9% y/y to ZAR677.6bn, while imports edged up 0.6% y/y to ZAR713.8bn.
Related Articles
Kosmos Energy and partners start commercial operations at Mauritania-Senegal GTA LNG project
US-based oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company Kosmos Energy has announced the start of commercial operations at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) ... more
South Africa’s power utility Eskom seeking ways to support Bitcoin mining, energy-intensive technologies
South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom is exploring opportunities to support Bitcoin mining, artificial intelligence (AI) development, and data centres to help its future ... more
EFCC arrests ex-NNPCL official and previous Warri managing director
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former CFO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPCL), as well as a former managing director of 125,000 barrels per ... more
Most Read
-
Putin to skip Rio BRICS summit over ICC warrant as Xi signals no-show
10 days ago
-
Turkey yet to prove rare earth deposit has suggested “giant” potential despite reported processing talks with China
10 months ago
-
Uproar in Mongolia as development bank reveals scale of risky loans and NPLs
3 years ago