The number of trips taken by South Africans travelling domestically is on the decline. This was just one of the findings from the Domestic Tourism Survey 2015, which was released by Stats SA this week. The survey collects information to understand the travel behaviour of people in South Africa to determine the contribution of tourism   read more »

A fall in mining and manufacturing production in the final quarter of 2016 pulled South African economic growth into negative territory, according to preliminary figures of gross domestic product (GDP) released by Stats SA. South Africa’s economy contracted by 0,3% quarter-on-quarter (seasonally adjusted and annualised). The mining industry’s 11,5%1 drop in production was the main   read more »

One of many comparisons between countries is the size of their economies. In the recent past, a number of people noted that Nigeria had overtaken South Africa as the largest economy on the African continent. Subsequently, articles were written about South Africa being pushed into third place by Egypt, only to regain the silver medal   read more »

MEDIA ADVISORY                                                                         10 February 2016 The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2016 at a media briefing to be held on Tuesday, 14 February 2017. The media briefing will be held as follows: Date:  Tuesday, 14 February   read more »

Stats SA recently announced changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods and services. The changes provide interesting insight into how consumer spending patterns have shifted over the last four years. The basket forms the basis from which the monthly CPI is calculated. There are 412 products and services in the new basket,   read more »

  Media advisory                                                                            25 January 2016   The Statistician-General of South Africa, Dr Pali Lehohla, will release the   read more »

The South African formal business sector generated R2,17 trillion in turnover in the third quarter of 2016. To put this into perspective, imagine if you drew this amount in R200 bills and went about giving away a bill every second. It would take 344 years to get rid of all the bills in this way!   read more »

Municipalities in South Africa spent a total of R73,1 billion during the September quarter of 2016. Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Financial Statistics of Municipalities report1 provides an overview of how this money was spent. More than half of municipal expenditure during the September 2016 quarter was on two items: electricity (28,0%) and employee-related costs (27,8%).   read more »

Despite a drop in the number of tourists visiting South Africa, the tourism industry continued to create jobs in 2015. Stats SA’s latest release of its Tourism Satellite Account for South Africa report provides an overview of tourism’s contribution in terms of employment, its impact on the gross domestic product (GDP) and spending. The number   read more »

Come join us as we tell a story of South African business performance over time. There are three elements to this story, taken from Stats SA’s latest Annual financial statistics (AFS) report1: income, expenditure and profit. First, let’s explore income. The income generated by the formal business2 sector has increased consistently, except for the dip   read more »