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 is the 18th largest in the world; and modern infrastructure supporting a relatively efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. Growth was robust from 2004 to 2007 as South Africa reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global commodities boom, but began to slow in the second half of 2007 due to an electricity crisis and the subsequent global financial crisis' impact on commodity prices and demand. GDP fell nearly 2% in 2009, but recovered in 2010-11. Unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth. State power supplier Eskom encountered problems with aging plants and meeting electricity demand, necessitating "load-shedding" cuts in 2007 and 2008 to residents and businesses in the major cities. Daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era - especially poverty, lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups, and a shortage of public transportation. South Africa's economic policy is fiscally conservative, focusing on controlling inflation and attaining a budget surplus. The current government largely follows the these prudent policies, but must contend with the impact of the global crisis and is facing growing pressure from special interest groups to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas and to increase job growth.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding South Africa on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of South Africa Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about South Africa Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$554.6 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 26
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$422 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
3.4% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 116
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$11,000 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 104
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 2.5%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 31.6%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 65.9% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
17.67 million economically active (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 35
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 9%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 26%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 65% (2007 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
23.9% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 173
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
50% (2000 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 1.3%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 44.7% (2000)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
65 (2005)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
18.4% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 143
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $104.7 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $126.5 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
24.8% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 125
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-5.2% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 155
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
35.6% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 87
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
5% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 118
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
7% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 24
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
9.2% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 102
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$128.4 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 28
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$314.2 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$324.4 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 34
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$1.013 trillion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair
4% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 92
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
238.3 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
212.2 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
14.05 billion kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
1.757 billion kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
192,100 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 42
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
553,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
54,930 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 77
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
521,400 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 24
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
1.9 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 57
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
5.4 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 58
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 174
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
3.5 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 40
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
27.16 million cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
country comparison to the world: 103
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$16.67 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 184
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$94.21 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 42
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
China 13.7%, US 10.1%, Japan 8.7%, Germany 7.3%, UK 7.1%, India 4.3% (2010)
$92.86 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs
China 13.4%, Germany 11.2%, US 7%, Saudi Arabia 5.3%, Japan 4.7%, Iran 4.3%, UK 4.3% (2010)
$50.26 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 37
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$47.66 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 58
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$124.6 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 30
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$73.6 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 29
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
rand (ZAR) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12