CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s trade balance swung to a deficit in August after three months of surpluses as shipments of precious metals and stones, which include gold and diamonds slumped.
The 8.6 billion-rand ($619 million) deficit compares with a revised surplus of 5 billion rand in July, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. The median of 10 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a surplus of 1.6 billion rand.
South Africa recorded its first quarterly trade surplus in a year in the three months through June as mining exports surged, helping to narrow the deficit on the current account, the broadest measure of goods and services, to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product from 5.3 percent. The smaller current-account gap would benefit the rand, which has gained 12 percent against the dollar this year after losing 25 percent of its value against the U.S. currency in 2015.
“Even though this month number is not good, the trend in 2016 so far is definitely better than last year, which is supportive of the rand,” Christie Viljoen, an economist at KPMG LLP in Cape Town, said by phone. “It helps keep the current-account deficit lower.”
