Economic Facts and Statistics About South Africa and Its Economy
Background: After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments, but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902). The resulting Union of South Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule.
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Economy South Africa ... Economy - overview: South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world; and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region.
However, growth has not been strong enough to lower South Africa's
high unemployment rate; and daunting economic problems remain from the
apartheid era, especially poverty and lack of economic empowerment among
the disadvantaged groups. High crime and HIV/AIDS infection rates also
deter investment. South African economic policy is fiscally
conservative, but pragmatic, focusing on targeting inflation and
liberalizing trade as means to increase job growth and household income.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $456.7 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 1.9% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $10,700 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.8%
industry: 31%
services: 65.2% (2003)
Investment (gross fixed): 16% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line: 50% (2000 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.1%
highest 10%: 45.9% (1994)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 59.3 (1993-94)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 5.9% (2003 est.)
Labor force: 16.35 million economically active (2003)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45%
(1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 31% (includes workers no longer looking for
employment) (2003 est.)
Budget: revenues: $37.48 billion
expenditures: $41.46 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
billion (2003)
Public debt: 38.2% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables;
beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold,
chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron
and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs
Industrial production growth rate: 5% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production: 195.6 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption: 181.2 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports: 6.91 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports: 6.2 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production: 196,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 460,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA (2001)
Oil - imports: NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves: 7.84 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production: 1.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 1.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 14.16 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance: $-1.234 billion (2003)
Exports: $36.77 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities: gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and
minerals, machinery and equipment (1998 est.)
Exports - partners: UK 12.6%, US 12.4%, Japan 9.2%, Germany 8.1%, China
4.7%, Italy 4.4% (2003)
Imports: $33.89 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum
products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs (2000 est.)
Imports - partners: Germany 16.6%, UK 8.5%, US 8.2%, Japan 5.9%, China
5.9%, Saudi Arabia 5.2%, France 5% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: $7.972 billion (2003)
Debt - external: $25.9 billion (2003 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $487.5 million (2000)
Currency: rand (ZAR)
Currency code: ZAR
Exchange rates: rand per US dollar - 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002),
8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000), 6.1095 (1999)
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
source http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/sf.html
