JOHANNESBURG, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The South African Reserve Bank's
monthly economic indicator fell by 0.4 percent month-on-month in December as
four of its 10 componets decreased, the bank said on Tuesday.
The indicator collates data such as business confidence, job advertisements
and volume of manufacturing orders to gauge the economic outlook. It was
generally soft for most of 2011.
Decreases in newspaper job-advertisements, a deterioration in the composite
leading business cycle indicators of South Africa's major trading partners,
fewer hours worked in the manufacturing sector and softer commodity prices in
the month all contributed to the fall.
Business activity usually slows down during December for holidays.
"In spite of the deterioration, we note that the index remains over 25
percent higher than its most recent recessionary low in March 2009," said Absa
Capital in a note.
"This suggests still relatively reasonable growth prospects for the economy
over the next few quarters," the bank said, but added growth would be slightly
modest this year partly due to the uncertainties in the global economy.
Indices: 2000 = 100 December November October
----------------------------------------------------------
Leading Indicator 132.1 132.6 131.2
12-mth percentage change 0.2 2.3 1.5
Coincident Indicator -- 154.8 153.1
12-mth percentage change -- 4.6 4.9
Lagging Indicator -- 104.5 104.5
12-mth percentage change -- -0.3 -0.4
(Reporting by Phumza Macanda; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
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