Pretoria. – South Africa’s trade deficit widened in October to the biggest gap since January as imports of machinery and oil climbed.

The trade shortfall increased to R21,4 billion from a revised R1,3 billion in September, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The median of 12 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a shortfall of R7,8 billion. The deficit for the first 10 months of the year was R59,4 billion compared with R95,1 billion in 2014.

The gap on the trade account will keep pressure on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, and the rand, which fell to a record against the dollar in November.

The benefit to exports of the currency’s 20 percent drop against the dollar in 2015 is partly offset by falling metal prices, low global demand and power shortages in Africa’s most-industrialised economy.

“The exchange rate does provide some upside, but we know we’ve also got internal constraints,” Frank Blackmore, an economist at KPMG,

said by phone from Johannesburg before the data was released.

“This will provide further pressure on the current account and the trade balance and we will need portfolio inflows to balance these out at the very minimum.”

The current-account shortfall eased to 3,1 percent of gross domestic product in the three months through June, the lowest in almost four years, from 4,7 percent in the previous quarter.

The central bank will publish current-account data for the third quarter on December 7.

The monthly trade figures are often volatile, reflecting the timing of shipments of commodities such as oil and diamonds. – Bloomberg.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey