JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s trade deficit narrowed to 8.9 billion rand in May from a 9.9 billion rand shortfall in April, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday.
“The (lower) trade deficit … was mainly due to increased exports of precious and semi-precious stones, mineral products and machinery and electrical appliances and increased imports of mineral products and machinery and electrical appliances,” SARS said.
Exports rose by 20.4 percent month-on-month to 62.8 billion rand in May while imports increased by 15.6 percent to 71.7 billion rand, SARS data showed.
Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a shortfall of 5.4 billion rand for May but the data is volatile and hard to forecast.
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