By Zinhle Xaba.
South Africa’s current-account deficit narrowed slightly in the first quarter, beating expectations for it to widen.
The gap on the current account – the broadest measure of trade in goods and services – edged down to R35.6 billion ($2 billion) in the three months through March from a revised R39.3 billion in the previous period, data released Thursday by the central bank showed.
As a share of the economy, the shortfall was 0.5% of gross domestic product, broadly the same as a revised 0.5% deficit in the prior quarter. The median estimate of six economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a current-account gap of 0.7% of GDP, or R50 billion.
The nation’s trade surplus narrowed a touch to R221.2 billion in the first quarter from a revised R226.4 billion in the fourth quarter, as the value of goods imported increased more than that of merchandised exports.
South Africa’s terms of trade improved in the first quarter as the rand price of exported goods and services increased more than that of imports, the central bank said.