JOHANNESBURG - BankservAfrica Economic Transaction Index (BETI) on
Wednesday said it has increased by more than 1% in real terms on a year-on-year
basis for the first time.
In a statement, BETI said with August transactions on the
national payments system reflecting a 1.2% increase in the value. A second consecutive increase points to a seeming break in
the streak of declines noted in previous months.
“Both the monthly and quarterly changes also increased,
which is the first time since April 2016 that all three period measures are
positive. The strong monthly and quarterly increases of 1.5% and 1.9%
respectively are also indicative of a very strong economic performance by the
overall economy.”
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The company said this is an improvement is a great bounce
back for the South African economy especially if sustained.
“August, in general, seems like a very strong economic
transaction month and shows a lot of economic activity coming to the fore. Real
time clearing, for example, recorded the highest growth with a staggering 32.6%
increase on a year ago.” The number of transactions and the nominal value also bounce
upwards
In August the number of transactions showed a 6.1% growth
valued at 94.9 million, a continued trend from previous months. The total
monetary value of the transactions also increased with a staggering 9.3% in
nominal terms.
“The average size of the transaction increased by just 3%
but has increased compared to a year ago, unlike the previous four months,
which show that the average transaction size declined.”
The standardised value of the total transactions was R817.9
billion for August 2017, which was the first time that a month outside of
December reached the R810 billion levels.
While nominal levels are only a relative indication it does
seem that the jump in value is higher than usual and indicates that significant
economic activity was held back by the recent downgrades.