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Pretoria - South Africa’s current account deficit widened to
3.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2011 from a
revised 1.0% shortfall in the fourth quarter of 2010, the Reserve Bank said on
Tuesday.
In its June quarterly bulletin, the bank said the wider gap was partly due to a levelling off in the value of exports during the first three months of the year compared to the previous quarter, because of weaker global demand for local products.
Economist Mike Schüssler of Economists.co.za said the figure
was not overly negative.
“It is not a train smash; the fact of the matter is I would
not get worried about it because growth in the first quarter was 4.8%, seasonally adjusted and annualised.
“(With the) Current account at 3.1%, it still means we can pay that
deficit, because we are growing faster than the deficit. I think that is not
the problem at the moment, but it is starting to pick up which is something we
need to look at.”
Growth in spending in the economy accelerated to 8.3% in the
first quarter of 2011 from 2.4% in the previous quarter, the Reserve Bank also
said.
“This acceleration followed a further expansion in all the
components of domestic demand. Real final consumption expenditure by households
maintained its brisk pace of growth,” the central bank said.
Household spending growth quickened to an annualised 5.2% in
the first quarter from 4.8% in the fourth quarter.
The Reserve Bank said household debt as a ratio of
disposable income eased slightly to 76.8% from 77.6% in the fourth quarter.
“Owing to nominal disposable income increasing at a faster
pace than household debt, the ratio of household debt to disposable income
continued on its downward trajectory,” it said.
