Johannesburg - July's BankservAfrica Economic Transaction Index shows South Africa's economic activity is "dramatically slowing again" as the quarterly drop in interbank transactions had the biggest decline in 18 months.
BETI is a measure of all South African interbank transactions under R5 million.
South Africa is battling with slowing growth and the Reserve Bank expects gross domestic product to not gain this year. In addition, increasing numbers of households are under financial strain and there are high levels of unemployment in South Africa.
Economic transactions declined significantly in July, recording a real value fall of negative 0.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to BETI, released Thursday. This was also the most significant fall on every measure and for all usual periods for the BETI.
“This data shows there is a broader slowdown amongst all of the country’s main economic sectors at present,” says Mike Schüssler, the chief economist at Economists dotcoza.
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While gross domestic product shows the large drop in mining caused the economic decline in the first quarter, the BETI now indicated a broader economic slowdown in the third quarter after a more positive second quarter, he said.
BUSINESS REPORT