Employment figures, producer price inflation, private sector credit extension and trade data are due out this week. Although the trade account is likely to show another small surplus, the rest of the data is expected to continue its downward trend, reflecting the weak state of the economy. Statistics SA will release the Quarterly Employment Statistics, surveying the formal, nonagricultural economy, for the first quarter on Tuesday. In early June, the first-quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed the unemployment rate had jumped to 27.7%, the highest since the series began. This took the total number of unemployed people in SA to a record high of 6.2-million. Stats SA will release the Producer Price Index (PPI) for May on Thursday. It retreated to 4.6% year on year in April, from 5.2% year on year in March, but economists are divided about whether this decelerating trend will continue. The continued slowdown in manufactured-food price inflation, falling food prices at the agri...
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