CAPE TOWN: South Africa’s trade data was better than expected last month as both imports and exports fell, the revised figure for March 2015 showed the trade deficit widened in April 2015.
South African Revenue Service data on Friday showed the trade balance recorded a smaller than expected deficit of R2.51bn in April after recording a R9m deficit in March, revised from a R482.5m surplus. A deficit of R5bn was expected for April. The trade balance includes trade with Botswana‚ Lesotho‚ Namibia and Swaziland.
Trade data are an important indicator of how the country is performing in terms of its imports and exports. A large deficit on the trade balance does not bode well for SA’s current account deficit, which causes the rand to weaken. The R2.51bn deficit was due to exports of R84bn and imports of R86.5bn. Exports fell from March to April by R6.84bn, or 7.5%, while imports decreased by R4.34bn, or 4.8%.
The cumulative deficit for 2015 was R35.8bn compared to R39.8bn in 2014.
