Pretoria- South Africa recorded a trade deficit of R4.7 billion in August, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said on Thursday.
According to SARS, the deficit was due to a decrease in exports of 13.4 percent and a decrease in imports of 1.5 percent.
"Exports for August 2010 of R48.5 billion and imports of R53.2 billion resulted in a deficit of R4.7 billion. Exports decreased by R7.5 billion (13.4%) and imports decreased by R0.8 billion (1.5%)," said SARS.
"The weakness in exports suggests that the faltering global recovery is having an impact on the domestic economy while on the import side, volumes of consumer goods seem to be gaining momentum on the back of the strong rand and improving household income," said Nedbank economist Isaac Matshego.
He added that the figures had little or no implications for monetary policy. "We still expect the Reserve Bank to keep interest rates unchanged for the remainder of this year," he said.
