October’s trade surplus narrows on the back of a 7.2% jump in imports, despite increased exports. 0.25% cut to the repo rate, based on encouraging inflation data. A new EU trade agreement set to diversify EU supply chains and secure much needed investment into RSA infrastructure.
Trade After RSA’s September trade surplus hit a 2.5 year high of ZAR21.75Bn (USD1.26Bn), beating this year’s previous high in March, with the month’s total exports reaching ZAR186.4 (USD10.76Bn) and imports falling 2% to ZAR164.6Bn (USD9.5Bn), the surplus fell in October. October’s data show a surplus of ZAR15.6Bn (USD0.92Bn) after exports reached ZAR192.2Bn (at USD11.34Bn, a full $0.58Bn more than September) and imports hit ZAR176.6Bn (USD10.42Bn, or $0.92Bn more than September) clearly it was the 7.2% higher imports that narrowed the surplus then. The culprit products were crude oil, precious metals & stones, base metals, transport equipment, vehicles, and equipment components. We’ll be watching Novembe...
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