Significant gains in different economic sectors

Its figures show that exports via the Sishen-Saldanha line rose by 25% in January while cement sales volumes increased by 22% during the month. Also government revenue was sharply up, rising by 22,6% y/y to a record R102,065bn. Company tax collections were up by 30,7% y/y and Value Added Tax grew by 30,5% y/y as well.

Worryingly there was a 56% surge in Eskom's unplanned outages to 5737MW in the first five weeks of the year, caused by a host of failures including boiler tube leaks, poor coal quality and excessive heat.

Summer is Eskom's peak maintenance period because demand is seasonally low.

For more:

• Business Live: Are we prepared for 20% growth?