Johannesburg - South Africa's trade account recorded a R13.5bn deficit in January compared with a surplus of R4.7bn in December, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Wednesday.
The trade deficit was at R4.9bn in January 2011.
Exports fell by 14.3% month-on-month to R8.98bn in January this year while imports went up by 15.8% to R9.23bn, Sars data showed.
Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a shortfall of R3.8bn for January, but the data is volatile and thus hard to forecast.