South African Current-Account Gap Narrows to Four-Year Low
- First trade surplus recorded since 2011 at 14 billion rand
- Stricter visa rules curbed tourist income in first half
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South Africa posted its smallest current-account deficit in four years in the second quarter as a weaker rand boosted exports and curbed consumers’ appetite for imports.
The gap on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, eased to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product from a revised 4.7 percent in the previous three months, the Reserve Bank said in its Quarterly Bulletin released on Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria. The median estimate of 18 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a shortfall of 3.7 percent.