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Dramatic drop in SA's trade deficit

Cape Town – South Africa’s trade deficit fell to R890m in September from a R10.14bn deficit in August, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Friday.

The figure was boosted by trade data in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS) and was due to total exports of R92.28bn and imports of R93.17bn.

Exports increased by 5.6% or R4.86bn and imports decreased by 4.5% or R4.39bn from August to September 2015.

The cumulative deficit for 2015 is R37.35bn compared to R73.37bn in 2014.

August 2015’s trade balance deficit was revised upwards by R0.19bn from the previous month’s preliminary deficit of R9.95bn to a revised deficit of R10.14bn, Sars said.

BLNS in September recorded a trade surplus of R9.23bn as a result of exports of R12.24bn and imports of R3bn.

Exports increased from August 2015 to September 2015 by R0.55bn (4.7%) and imports increased from August to September 2015 by R0.42bn(16.4%).

The cumulative surplus for BLNS countries in 2015 is R78.54bn compared to R75.65bn in 2014.

South Africa’s figures, excluding BLNS countries, shows that it recorded a trade deficit of R10.12bn as a result of exports of R80.05bn and imports of R90.17bn.

Exports increased from August to September 2015 by R4.31bn (5.7%) and imports decreased by R4.81bn (5.1%) over the same period. The cumulative deficit for 2015 is R115.89bn compared to R149.02bn in 2014.

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