South Africa Recorded its First Current Account

	Current Account	-0.1%	-0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

		2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
		-5.8%	-5.4%	-4.4%	-2.9%	-2.5%	-3.5%	-2.6%	2.0%	3.7%	-0.5%

	Business Confidence
Current Account	South Africa recorded its first current account since 2019. The current account balance deteriorated from a surplus of R228 billion in 2021, or 3.7% of GDP, to a deficit of R31.8 billion, or 0.5% of GDP, in 2022. A major contributor to the deficit was the rise in imports even as exports were hit by constraints at ports, power outages and a smaller increase the value of mineral sales in 2022 versus 2021 as the prices of commdities that South Africa exports did not perform as strongly. The deficit, if maintained, will place additional pressure on the rand.												The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index in South Africa declined to 36 in 2023Q1, its lowest level in two years. The index fell from 38 in 2022 Q4, and this is this fourth straight decrease in the index
2020Q2	2020Q3	2020Q4	2021Q1	2021Q2	2021Q3	2021Q4	2022Q1	2022Q2	2022Q3	2022Q4	2023Q1
5	24	40	35	50	43	43	46	42	39	38	36	BER

	forex
		Mar-22	Apr-22	May-22	Jun-22	Jul-22	Aug-22	Sep-22	Oct-22	Nov-22	Dec-22	Jan-23	Feb-23
	57.7	58.2	60.3	59.3	58.9	59.5	59.8	58.9	58.7	59.9	60.6	61.9	61.0
													5.7%
	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022			2022Q1	2022Q2	2022Q3	2022Q4
gdp	2.5%	1.4%	1.3%	0.7%	1.2%	1.5%	0.3%	-6.3%	4.9%	2.0%		gdp	1.6%	-0.8%	1.8%	-1.3%
gfcf	5.4%	-1.3%	1.3%	-1.9%	-2.0%	-1.3%	-2.1%	-14.6%	0.2%	4.7%		gfcf	3.5%	0.3%	0.3%	1.3%

	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	-0.1%	0.0%	0.0%			0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	0.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	-0.1%	0.0%	0.0%			0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%