U.S. Department of Commerce
South Africa’s population of 50 million enjoys the most sophisticated, mature and productive economy on the African continent today (U.S. commercial service, 2014). The country’s GDP represents approximately 33 percent of the sub-Saharan total and the South African economy has experienced sustained growth of 3.2 percent over the past 5 years (US commercial service, 2014). According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, “The U.S. Commercial Service in South Africa is co-located with the U.S. Consulate General [with the] mission to create jobs in the United States by advancing commercial opportunities in South Africa and strategically assisting firms export U.S. products and services” (U.S. commercial service, 2014, para. 2).
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) most recent policy review (2008) shows that during the period from 2003 through 2008, the percentage of trade in goods and services to South Africa’s GDP rose from 53.8% to 73.8% (in real terms, 52.16% to 61.83%). In addition, the country experienced sustained export growth during this period, with a nominal average rate of 21% a year. Conversely, imports also increased slightly more at 22.7%, resulting in a declining trade balance that adversely affected the current account deficit which has been increasingly steadily since 2003, accounting for 7.41% of GDP by 2008 (Trade policy review, 2008). The country, though, continues to suffer from inordinately high unemployment and inflation levels (Trade policy review, 2008).
World Bank
The World Bank lauds South Africa for improving the transparency of its national budget formulation process, but improvements in provincial budget-making are still needed (Malemba, 2014).
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) concurs with WTO’s assessment of South Africa for the period 2003 through 2008, but cautions that following this relatively robust economic growth, the country experienced a downturn, like other major economies, after the Great Recession of 2009 (Selassie, 2011). The South African economy has languished with complete recovery being elusive (Selassie, 2011).
GNI Growth
As an annual percentage, GNI growth reflects the total of value from all domestic producers as well as any product taxes (less subsidies) that are not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) that are received from other countries (GNI growth, 2014). The GNI growth for South Africa for the period 2010 through 2013 is set forth in Table 1 below.
Table 1
GNI growth for South Africa: 2010-2013
Year
GNI growth
2010
3.4
2011
3.3
2012
2.4
2013
2.1
Source: World Bank database at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.MKTP.KD.ZG
Quantifiable Measures of the Size of the South African Economy
Selected quantifiable measures of the size of the South African economy for the period 2002 through 2008 are provided in Table 2, followed by more recent data from the World Bank in Table 3 below.
Table 2
Historic quantifiable measures of the size of the South African economy: 2002-2008
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Miscellaneous
Population (million)
45.34
46.05
46.71
47.36
47.97
48.55
48.70
GDP at market price (US$ million, current prices)
111,130
166,655
216,340
242,676
257,894
283,381
282,995
GDP per capita (US$, current prices)
2,451
3,619
4,631
5,125
5,376
5,836
5,811
Real GDP (annual percentage change)
3.7
3.1
4.9
5.0
5.3
5.1
3.1
Unemployment rate (official definition; per cent)
30.4
28.0
26.3
26.7
25.5
24.2
23.1
Sectoral distribution of GDP
(percentage)
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
2.9
2.7
2.6
2.7
2.3
2.3
2.6
Mining and energy
8.8
8.9
8.6
8.3
8.0
7.6
7.0
of which: mining and quarrying
6.5
6.6
6.3
6.2
5.8
5.6
5.0
Manufacturing sector
17.2
16.4
16.4
16.3
16.3
16.2
15.9
Services
62.2
63.1
63.5
63.8
64.5
65.0
65.6
Construction (contractors)
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.8
3.0
3.4
3.7
Wholesale and retail trade, catering, and accommodation
13.0
13.4
13.6
13.9
14.1
14.1
13.8
Transport, storage, and communications
9.5
9.8
9.7
9.8
9.9
9.9
10.0
Finance, insurance, real estate, and business services
18.3
18.5
19.0
19.0
19.4
19.7
20.1
Community,...
dollar exchange rate (end of period)
10.52
7.56
6.45
6.36
6.77
7.05
8.25
Real effective exchange ratec
82.55
103.23
110.13
112.50
108.87
105.05
94.07
Change in real effective rated
-9.67
25.05
6.68
2.15
-3.23
-3.51
-10.45
Nominal effective exchange ratec
66.54
83.23
90.84
91.03
85.68
77.44
64.17
Change in nominal effective rated
-21.70
25.08
9.14
0.21
-5.88
-9.62
-17.14
Memorandum
Current account balance (percentage of GDP)
0.8
-1.1
-3.2
-4
-6.3
-7.3
-7.4
Total external debt/XGS (%)
83.0
71.5
64.6
61.8
66.9
70.6
61.7
Gross official reserves (US$ billion)
6.3
7.0
12.8
20.5
26.4
31.8
38.4
Gross official reserves (months of imports)
2.6
2.0
2.2
3.0
3.3
3.3
3.7
Trade in goods and services (percentage of GDP)
62.1
53.8
53.8
55.6
62.5
66.0
73.8
Terms of trade (percentage change)
Including gold
2.1
3.7
1.1
0.4
4.4
3.2
1.5
Excluding gold
0.1
4.8
1.8
0.2
2.9
3
0.9
a Public deficit (-) or surplus (+).
b A change in the underlying methodology caused an upward bias to the inflation rate in 2008.
c Exchange rate Index 2000 = 100.
d Depreciation (-) and appreciation (+).
Source: World Trade Organization trade policy review, 2008, annex 4: South Africa, pp. 3-4
Table 3
Most recent financial data for South Africa from the World Bank: 2003, 2004, 2011, 2012
2003
2004
2011
2012
South Africa
GNI per capita, PPP (current international $)
8,090.0
8,650.0
11,640.0
11,970.0
South Africa
Population, total (in millions)
46.4
47.0
51.6
52.3
South Africa
GDP (current US$) (in millions)
168,219.3
219,092.9
403,894.3
382,337.6
South Africa
GDP growth (annual %)
2.9
4.6
3.6
2.5
South Africa
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
52.5
51.9
55.3
56.1
Source: World Bank, South Africa (2014)
