South Africa’s trade balance swung to a surplus in February after recording the biggest deficit in at least 28 years a month earlier as exports of vehicles and transport equipment more than doubled and machinery imports declined.
The 431.4 million-rand ($36 million) surplus compares with January’s revised 27.1 billion-rand negative balance, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an emailed statement Thursday. The median estimate of three economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 1 billion-rand surplus. The surplus was 5 billion rand a year earlier.
The government is battling to return public finances to a sustainable path and stave off another credit-rating downgrade, following years of stagnant growth and policy missteps that left a gaping hole in the budget.
Here are some highlights from the statement:
- Imports declined 17 percent to 90.2 billion rand from a month earlier as inward shipments of machinery and electronics dropped 25 percent from January
- Exports rose 12 percent to 90.6 billion rand, with vehicles and transport equipment shipments more than doubling
- The trade deficit for the year so far is 26.7 billion rand, compared with a negative balance of 7.6 billion rand a year earlier