Johannesburg - The deficit on South Africa's trade account widened sharply to R21.33bn in October, from a revised R3.04bn shortfall in September, according to SA Revenue Service (Sars).
"The R21.33bn deficit for October 2014 is due to exports of R89bn and imports of R110.32bn," Sars said after the release of the October trade data.
"Exports decreased from September to October by R1.63bn [-1.8%) and imports increased from September to October by R16.65bn [17.8 percent]."
The October data brings the cumulative gap for the year to R95.11bn, compared with R73.08bn over the same period last year.
The cumulative deficit for 2014 now stands at R95.1bn, compared to R73bn in 2013.
The trade statistics include country trade data for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
- Reuters, Sapa