SOUTH Africa’s main savings ratio was flat at 15.5% of gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2000, says the Reserve Bank. ”Private sector saving deteriorated in the second quarter of 2000, but there has been a positive contribution by general government to the national saving effort for the first time since 1991,” the bank said in its September quarterly bulletin. The overall ratio, which measures gross saving to gross domestic product, was 15.0% in the fourth quarter of 1999 and 15.5% in the first quarter of this year. Corporate saving as a percentage of gross domestic product fell to 12% in the second quarter of 2000 from 13% in the first as companies disbursed a greater proportion of their operating surpluses as dividends, the bank said. Private households continue to save a tiny portion of their income, with their savings ratio as a percentage of gross domestic product falling to 2.5% in the second quarter of 2000 from 3% in the fourth quarter of 1999. – Reuters