SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
PRESS STATEMENT

31 AUGUST 2007

SOUTH AFRICAN TRADE STATISTICS FOR JULY 2007

TRADE DEFICIT WIDENS IN JULY 2007 TO R9.4 BILLION LARGELY DUE TO A MONTH-ON-MONTH INCREASE IN IMPORTS OF MACHINERY, BASE METALS AND VEHICLES.

The South African Revenue Service announced today that July exports of R42.1 billion and imports of R51.5 billion resulted in a deficit of R9.4 billion. Imports increased by R3.9 billion (8%) to R51.5 billion whilst exports decreased by R217 million (0.5%) to R42.1 billion. The year-on-year cumulative deficit increased from R36.2 billion to R39.7 billion. Highlights include month-on-month increase in imports of machinery, base metals, vehicles and aircraft.

Trade Highlights by Category

Trade Highlights by World Zone

Trade for the year

Graph of 2005, 2006, and 2007 trade

The cumulative trade deficit for January to July 2007 was R39.7 billion versus a deficit of R36.2 billion for the same period in 2006. This represents a growth of R3.6 billion (10%) year-on-year versus year-on-year growth (in terms of audited figures) of R27.6 billion (320%) in 2006.

Graph of exports and imports for 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Compared to the same period in 2006, the growth in exports outpaced the growth in imports (in terms of percentages). Cumulative imports increased by R75 billion (31%) from R241 billion to R317 billion and exports increased by R72 billion (35%) from R205 billion to R277 billion.

ENDS

ISSUED BY THE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
PRETORIA



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