SA trade deficit soars to R16.3bn

Filomena Scalise

Filomena Scalise

Published Sep 30, 2014

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Johannesburg - South Africa's trade deficit more than doubled to 16.3 billion rand in August from a revised 6.82 billion rand shortfall in July, data from the South African Revenue Service showed Tuesday.

Economists had expected an 8 billion rand gap, but the number is volatile and therefore hard to forecast.

Exports in August fell 9.6 percent to 77.24 billion rand while imports were up 1.4 percent at 93.53 billion rand.

The August data brings the cumulative deficit for the year to 70.74 billion rand, compared with a 51.88 billion rand gap over the same period in 2013. - Reuters

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