South Africa's new car sales outstrip any other African country
Its annual traffic index, which uses road data collected from TomTom users around the world, shows that South Africans spend an average of 10 working days a year waiting in traffic.
To reach the total productivity figure the June 2014 report used Statistics South Africa’s calculation that workers earn an aver- age of R14 911 a month.
The country has an overall congestion level of 21%, the report said. Cape Town is the most congested city, overtaking Johannesburg, which topped the list until 2013. Out of 160 cities worldwide, Moscow topped the chart as most congested city, followed by Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro.
According to statistics supplied by Naamsa, South Africa’s new car sales outstrip any of its African competitors, the closest being Egypt.
Last year it sold roughly half the number of vehicles sold in South Africa (332 000). Next was Algeria at 181 000 followed by Morocco at 131 000.
Nigeria, which has overtaken South Africa with the biggest gross domestic product on the continent, sold only 26 400 new cars last year.