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. At the end of 2007, South Africa began to experience an electricity crisis. State power supplier Eskom encountered problems with aged plants, necessitating "load-shedding" cuts to residents and businesses in the major cities. 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 the electricity crisis and the subsequent global financial crisis' impact on commodity prices and demand. GDP fell nearly 2% in 2009. Unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth. 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 former economic policy was fiscally conservative, focusing on controlling inflation, and attaining a budget surplus. The current government largely follows the same 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. More than one-quarter of South Africa's population currently receives social grants.
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: 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: Oil - proved reserves: 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: The information regarding South Africa on this page is re-published from the 2011 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of South Africa Economy 2011 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about South Africa Economy 2011 should be addressed to the CIA.
$527.5 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 26
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]
$354.4 billion (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
3% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 124
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$10,700 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 106
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 3%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
31.2%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services:
65.8% (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
17.32 million economically active (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 34
[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 ]
23.3% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 174
[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: 2
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
19.9% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 88
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $103.1 billion
[see also: Budget - revenues country ranks ]
expenditures:
$126.2 billion (2009 est.)
[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]
33.2% of GDP (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 85
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
4.5% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
7% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 37
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
11.71% (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 44
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$65.87 billion (31 December 2010 est)
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$256.2 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$328.3 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$704.8 billion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 18
[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
3% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 109
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
240.3 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
215.1 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
14.16 billion kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
10.57 billion kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
191,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 43
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
579,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 29
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
128,500 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 63
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
490,500 bbl/day (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 26
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
15 million bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 85
[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]
3.25 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 53
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
6.45 billion cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 55
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
3.2 billion cu m (2008 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: 102
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$16.51 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 178
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$76.86 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 38
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
China 10.34%, US 9.19%, Japan 7.59%, Germany 7.01%, UK 5.54%, Switzerland 4.72% (2009)
$77.04 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs
China 17.21%, Germany 11.24%, US 7.38%, Saudi Arabia 4.87%, Japan 4.67%, Iran 3.95% (2009)
$45.52 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 25
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$80.52 billion (30 June 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 43
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$83.08 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 40
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$53.38 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 32
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
rand (ZAR) per US dollar - 7.38 (2010), 8.4234 (2009), 7.9576 (2008), 7.05 (2007), 6.7649 (2006)
This page was last modified 09-Feb-11