Pretoria, 29 March 2019 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) today releases trade statistics for February 2019 recording a trade surplus of R3.99 billion. These statistics include trade data with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN). The year-to-date (01 January to 28 February 2019) trade deficit of R9.08 billion is an improvement on the deficit for the comparable period in 2018 of R27.97 billion. Exports year-on-year increased by 9.3% whilst imports for the same period showed an increase of 3.9%.