Economic activity in South Africa is in an incredibly volatile state, according to the latest BankservAfrica Economic Transaction Index.<\/p>\n
This follows marginal growth in transactions between May and June 2017, following a slight decline the month before.<\/p>\n
The BETI\u00a0measures the throughput of transactional data via BankservAfrica\u2019s South African payment system. It tracks individuals and firms making payments for goods and services both electronically and via cheques, and is a good measure of immediate economic activities.<\/p>\n
In June, activity increased by a marginal 0.4%, however this has been preceded by nine months of consistent decline, putting the overall health of the economy at a worse position than a year ago – 0.4% down from June 2016.<\/p>\n
BSA recorded over 92.4 million transactions in June, up 6.7% from May, with a nominal value of R803.8 billion. This gives an average transaction of R8,535.<\/p>\n
The data suggests that economic activity in South Africa wants to pick up, but short-term shocks tend to project badly on actual economic transactions.<\/p>\n
“The economy remains flat and that has been the history of the country\u2019s GDP changes over the last three years. Economic transactions that underpin the economy show that this uncertainty is still the dominant feature of the current period,” BSA said.<\/p>\n
Longer term, the data suggests that this “topsy-turvy” state will persist. Data over the past 42 months showed that the index was split pretty evenly between periods of growth and periods of decline\/stagnation.<\/p>\n
“The data is revealing that the economy is changing direction so often that it is actually just running on the spot,” the group said.<\/p>\n
“The constant change in direction of the BETI suggests that the economy will remain low to flat in the immediate future. The only constant at present is the uncertainty of both business and consumers.”<\/p>\n