Johannesburg - South Africa’s trade balance shifted back into surplus in March as exports of precious metals and electronics climbed.
The trade surplus of R0.5 billion compared with a revised R8.7 billion deficit in February, the Pretoria-based Revenue Service said in a statement on its website Thursday. The median estimate of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a shortfall of R6.5 billion. The deficit for the first three months of the year was R32.6 billion compared with 27.2 billion rand in 2014.
A widening trade deficit has added to pressure on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, and the rand. The current-account gap averaged 5.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2014 and will narrow to 4.5 percent this year, according to the National Treasury.
“Factors related to electricity supply will restrict production growth” in South Africa, even if global demand increases later this year, Kamilla Kaplan, an economist at Investec Ltd., said in an e-mailed note to clients before the data was released. “Sizable trade deficits are likely to remain a feature in the coming quarters.”
Exports jumped 19 percent while imports rose 6.5 percent in March compared with the previous month, the Revenue Service said.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., the state-owned utility that supplies about 95 percent of the nation’s power, is rationing electricity supply because its aging plants can’t meet demand. The shortage has “very severe” implications for growth prospects in Africa’s most-industrialized economy, according to the World Bank.
The monthly trade figures are often volatile, reflecting the timing of shipments of commodities such as oil and diamonds.
Bloomberg