More online buys show better days

Improved purchasing power is tailwind for economy.

- Ina Opperman

More electronic transactions conducted last month indicate more economic activity after a setback during September, confirming conditions improved since a year ago.

According to the BankservAfrica Economic Transactions Index (Beti), which measures the value of all electronic transactions cleared through them, there was a steady recovery in October.

Beti increased to an index level of 136.5 - 0.3% up on the 136.1 recorded in September and an improvement of 4.5% compared to November last year.

After two months of lower volumes, the number of transactions cleared through BankservAfrica in October spiked to 167.8 million, compared to 156.7 million in September, representing a 7.1% growth and an all-time high.

The standardised nominal value of transactions increased by 1% moderately to R1 317 trillion in October, from R1 303 trillion in September.

Shergeran Naidoo, head of stakeholder engagements at BankservAfrica, says Beti signals the underlying momentum in the economy is picking up, reflecting improved economic conditions.