South Africa’s trade statistics will now include trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (the BLNS countries).

BLNS country-trade statistics have previously not been included in the trade statistics. This was due to the free flow of trade from a customs duty point of view within the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

BLNS merchandise trade does have a material impact on South Africa’s trade balance. South Africa exported R103.8bn to and imported R21.5bn from BLNS countries.In the last full year (2012) this resulted in a positive trade balance of R82.3bn for trade with BLNS countries.

South Africa’s total trade deficit for 2012 was R116.9bn. Had the BLNS trade data been included, the deficit would have been R34.6bn, therefore showing a more accurate trade statistic.

SARS’s customs modernisation programme has resulted in its systems moving to new technologically enhanced platforms that enables better electronic capturing of trade data that was previously done manually. The modernised system greatly improves the accuracy of trade data and allows the reporting and analysis of trade data to be done in real-time.

Although SARS is confident as to the accuracy of the BLNS trade numbers, it is SARS’s intention to approach the United Nations to review the treatment of South Africa’s trade data that will now include BLNS trade numbers.

In addition to the inclusion of the BLNS trade figures, SARS is also contemplating certain other revisions to improve the reporting of trade statistics in the future. Some of these include the following:

–  publishing of imports on both a Free On Board (FOB) and a Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) basis to align it with UN principles,

– compiling statistics on the date when the goods are actually released into or from South Africa’s economy, rather than using the date on which the goods entered the customs’ system for ultimate release from or into the SA economy, and

–  publishing gold exports as recorded on the SARS system reflecting the physical export movement of gold as opposed to the current practice of reporting the SARB gold export data on the IMF change of ownership basis.

These changes will however, only be finalised and implemented after consultation with international experts and other relevant stakeholders.