SA posted its second-largest current-account surplus in history in the first quarter of 2021, as the value of exports surged on the back of a global economic recovery and a stronger rand curbed the price of steadily rising imports.

Even so, economists said risks to the surplus remain as long as load-shedding continues. Though President Cyril Ramaphosa lifted the threshold for companies to produce their own electricity without a licence to 100MW, in a surprise announcement on Thursday, it is unlikely to alleviate Eskom’s power-generating woes for at least the rest of this year...

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