S.Africa Feb trade account in 7.5 bln rand deficit MyZA

JOHANNESBURG, March 30 (Reuters) – South Africa’s trade
account recorded a 7.5 billion rand ($967.42 million) deficit in
February compared with a 13.5 billion rand shortfall in January,
the South African Revenue Service said on Friday.

The trade deficit was 0.2 billion rand in the same month in
2011.

Exports rose by 4.2 percent month-on-month to 56.3 billion
rand in February while imports decreased by 5.6 percent to 63.7
billion rand, SARS data showed.

Economists surveyed by Reuters expected a shortfall of 5.0
billion rand for February but the data is volatile and thus hard
to forecast.
($1 = 7.7525 South African rand)

(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Tiisetso
Motsoeneng)