Pretoria, 28 February 2018 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for January 2018 recording a trade balance deficit of R27.66 billion. These statistics include trade data with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (BLNS). The year-to-date (01 January to 31 January 2018) trade balance deficit of R27.66 billion is a deterioration on the deficit for the comparable period in 2017 of R11.28 billion. Exports year-on-year grew by 0.5% whilst imports for the same period showed an increase of 18.3%.