Sacci’s trade conditions survey for April will cover a full month of level 5 conditions
A worker checks trolleys loaded with buckets of flowers at a business in Johannesburg, May 8 2020. Picture: MARCO LONGARI / AFP
The BankservAfrica economic transaction index for April is due out on Wednesday and is likely to provide insight into economic activity during the period of full lockdown. A survey of spending activity released by BankservAfrica last week appears to confirm a bleak April lies ahead. During the 38 days ending May 3, daily transactions dropped 49% from the corresponding period in 2019.
The economy was already in a technical recession in the last half of 2019 and the outcome of the quarterly manufacturing survey from the Bureau for Economic Research suggests that conditions remained poor in the first quarter of 2020 given weak demand and electricity supply disruptions, Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan said in a note.
From the start of May level 4 lockdown measures allowed the expansion of manufacturing activity — with the government expanding activity to roughly 30% of the sector.
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