South Africa’s current-account unexpectedly swung to a deficit in the second quarter as imports outweighed exports and companies paid higher dividends. | Fin24
The balance on the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, switched to an annualised deficit of 1.3% of gross domestic product, or R87 billion, from a revised 2.4% surplus in the previous quarter, the South African Reserve Bank said in a report on Thursday. Only one of 11 economists in a Bloomberg survey forecast a deficit to GDP.
The unanticipated current account deficit may add to pressure on the rand, which has weakened 8% against the dollar this year as investors flock to the US currency on expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to quell surging inflation. The rand weakened by more than a percent following the data, hitting R17.37/$.
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