South Africa's July trade gap widens to 14.21 billion rand

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's trade shortfall widened more than expected to 14.21 billion rand in July, from a 7.71 billion rand shortfall in June, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday. Exports rose 10.9 percent in July from the previous month to 75.69 billion rand, while imports rose 18.4 percent to 89.89 billion rand. Economists had expected a 8.9 billion rand gap in the trade account. The cumulative deficit for the year now stands at 89.37 billion rand, compared with 59.02 billion rand in 2012. JULY TRADE WORLD ZONES TRADE BALANCE EXPORTS IMPORTS (R'bln) (% of total) (% of total) Africa 7.912 17.42 5.87 Europe -12.814 23.63 34.15 America -0.368 11.03 9.69 Asia -15.227 37.40 48.43 Oceania -0.474 1.30 1.63 Other unclassified goods 6.668 9.09 0.24 Ships/Aircraft stores 0.098 0.13 -