Almost 70% of people who start an informal business do so because they are unemployed and have no alternative source of income. This was just one of the findings of the Survey of Employers and Self-Employed (SESE) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Thursday. The SESE, which is conducted every 4 years, collects   read more »

South Africa’s population now stands at just over 54 million. This is the main finding of Stats SA’s latest Mid-year Population Estimates report, which was released on Thursday. Based on the 2014 series, the country’s population experienced an estimated net increase of 844 000 individuals (1,58% growth) from July 2013 to July 2014. Gauteng remains the   read more »

Capital expenditure by public sector institutions (national, provincial and local government, extra-budgetary, higher education and public sector institutions) increased by 4,8% (or R9,7 billion), from R202,8 billion in 2012 to R212,5 billion in 2013. A disaggregation of capital expenditure by type reveals increases on plant, machinery and equipment (up R10 billion from 2012), ‘other’ fixed   read more »

Annual consumer inflation for June was steady at 6,6%, with a monthly increase of 0,3%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices increased by a modest 0,1% between May and June resulting in an unchanged 8,8% annual rate.  Specific food items which continue to exert upward pressure on inflation are white bread (monthly increase of 1,9%) and full cream   read more »

Travel time is the factor that influenced most households’ choice of transport. This is just one of the findings of the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) in 2013 for the National Department of Transport. At a national level, 32,6% of households indicated that travel time was the primary   read more »

Mining production decreased by 6,5% year-on-year in May 2014. The largest negative growth rates were recorded for Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) (-48,5%), ‘other’ non-metallic minerals (-13,3%) and building materials (-11,7%). The main contributor to the 6,5% decrease was PGMs (contributing -10,4 percentage points). Iron ore was a significant positive contributor (contributing 3,1 percentage points). The   read more »

The South African national government expenditure surpassed R1 trillion in the 2012/13 fiscal year, almost double the R567 billion spent in 2007/08. This was a finding from Stats SA’s Financial Statistics of National Government report, an annual release containing details of national government spending. Exploring expenditure trends over the last six years, the report shows   read more »

Although the number and percentage of households in South Africa with access to piped water has increased steadily over the last decade, household satisfaction with the quality of water services has decreased. This is one of the findings from the latest release of Stats SA’s General Household Survey (GHS). Conducted on an annual basis since   read more »

Inflation hits 6,6% in May 2014, the highest rate in almost five years (6,8% in July 2009).  The monthly increase is a modest 0,2%. The big jump in the annual rate is mainly as a result of a drop of 0,3% in the index in May 2013. This drop was mainly a result of a 73c/l   read more »

The seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices for the first quarter of 2014 decreased by an annualised rate of 0,6 percent. The main contributors to this decrease in economic activity were the mining and quarrying industry (-1,3 percentage points) and the manufacturing industry (-0,7 of a percentage point). The mining and   read more »