South Africa’s monthly trade deficit shrunk to R5,12-billion in August, largely due to a big fall in oil imports, official data showed on Tuesday.
The South African Revenue Service said the monthly shortfall narrowed from July’s nine-month record high R14,3-billion.
Compared with the previous month, exports fell by 1,43% to R60,4-billion, while imports decreased by 13,34% to R65,51-billion, largely due to a 37% decline in imports of minerals products, which include oil.
Economists polled by Reuters last week had forecast a deficit of R4,7-billion.
Analysts said while the gap had narrowed, it remained relatively large and would keep pressure on the country’s ailing current account.
”It’s another fairly large trade deficit and it would seem that the trade deficit for 2008 will be at least as big as last year’s deficit … we can still expect a huge current-account deficit, between 7% and 8%, probably closer to 8%,” Citadel economist Salomi Odendaal said.
Sustained gains in the rand between 2002 and 2005 eroded the value of South Africa’s exports and attracted relatively cheap imports, widening the trade and current-account gaps.
A weaker rand this year may help to boost exports, but a massive government infrastructure spending programme is expected to keep imports high, and the deficit on the current account large.
The shortfall on the current account eased to 7,3% of GDP in the second quarter from 8,9% in the first three months of the year. The deficit was at a 36-year high of 7,3% for 2007 as a whole.
Sars said the cumulative trade deficit for the first eight months of the year was R54,4-billion compared with R50,8-billion during the same period last year. — Reuters