South Africa posts largest current-account surplus since 2022

About this episode

The episode discusses South Africa's largest current-account surplus in four years, driven by increased gold exports and decreased imports.

South Africa posts largest current-account surplus since 2022 South Africa posted its largest current-account surplus in four years in the first quarter as the value of gold exports surged and imports dropped. The balance on the current account — the broadest measure of trade in goods and services — widened to a surplus of 2.4% of gross domestic product, or R190.7-billion, from 0.6% in the previous quarter, the South African Reserve Bank said in a report on Thursday. That beat the median estimate of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who forecast a positive balance of 1.1% of GDP. The quarterly surplus was the second in a row and the biggest since the third quarter of 2021, the central bank data showed. As a percentage of GDP, it was the highest since the first quarter of 2022. The better-than-expected outcome may boost the rand, which is little changed against the dollar since December after a rally at the start of the year was erased by the US-Israeli war in Iran that erupted on February 28. South Africa's trade surplus jumped to R437.9-billion in the first quarter from R282.2-billion "as the value of merchandise and net gold exports increased while that of merchandise…

Topics covered

• current-account surplus
• South Africa economy
• gold exports
• trade balance
• GDP

Keywords

• current-account surplus
• South Africa
• gold exports
• trade surplus
• GDP

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: South African Reserve Bank, Bloomberg

Places: South Africa

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