(Adds spending, inflation, Mnyande quotes)
* Current account helped by lower non-resident dividend
payments
* Spending up, pushed by households and government
* Households’ debt-to-annual-income ratio still high
By Stella Mapenzauswa
PRETORIA, March 19 (Reuters) – The deficit on South Africa’s
current account narrowed in the fourth quarter of 2011, helped
by lower dividend payments to non-resident investors, but
spending by households and government rose, signalling rising
import pressures.
The current account shortfall edged lower to 3.6 percent of
gross domestic product in the fourth quarter from a revised 4.1
percent in the third quarter, the Reserve Bank said in its March
Quarterly Bulletin released on Monday.
“It looks good … The fact that it’s the government is not
surprising as it just keeps spending more and more but it’s good
to see that households are also doing the same,” said Christie
Viljoen, an analyst with NKC Independent Economists.
The shortfall for the whole of 2011 however widened to 3.3
percent of GDP from 2.8 percent in 2010, largely due to a sharp
deterioration during the second quarter of last year.
Continued…
