JOHANNESBURG: South Africa recorded a bigger-than-expected trade surplus of 18.73 billion rand ($1 billion) trade in May, from a revised 127 million rand shortfall in April, data from the national revenue agency showed on Thursday.

Exports rose 14 percent to 104.68 billion rand on a month-on-month basis, while imports were down 6.6 percent to 85.95 billion rand, the South African Revenue Service said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a trade surplus of 3.1 billion rand.

Copyright Reuters, 2016