Taking account of the relatively large net inflows of portfolio foreign capital, outflows to finance foreign investment by residents, and all other capital movements, the capital account of the South African balance of payments still showed a net inflow of funds from abroad of R53 billion over the period from the beginning of 1995 up to March 1998.
The inflows were more than sufficient to cover modest current account deficits and to raise the total gross foreign exchange reserves of the country to a level of R45 billion (US $ billion) at the end of March 1998. At this level, the total foreign reserves were sufficient to cover about three months’ imports of goods and services.