Despite borrowing requirements remaining high, South Africa’s fiscal ratios improved markedly, underpinned by revenue overperformance. Commodity export prices and a strong terms of trade have played a critical role in the economy’s adjustment to the pandemic and recovery.
As a result, the rise in the poverty rate halted in 2006, based on the relative measure of poverty (which relates  BIS Review 151/2007  1  mainly to income differentials); based on the absolute measure of poverty (with relates to the ability to purchase a basket of basic goods), poverty actually declined in 2005 and 2006.