The current account will return to deficit in 2011 as the trade deficit widens. Import growth will accelerate to 11%, owing to higher demand for consumer goods due to faster GDP growth. Exports will increase by 10%, slower than previously forecast owing to a more modest increase in uranium exports. The deficit on the services account will narrow, as higher services imports for development projects will be more than offset by increased tourist arrivals and spending, but higher profit remittances (mostly by mining companies) will widen the income account deficit. The current transfers surplus will fall as SACU receipts decrease as a result of lower regional trade volumes in 2009. Overall, the current account is forecast to decline from a surplus of 1% of GDP in 2010 to a deficit of 3.5% of GDP in 2011.

In 2012 export growth will accelerate to 13%. The first full year of expanded capacity at Langer Heinrich and the Tsumeb smelter will increase exports of uranium and blister copper, and cement exports from the Ohorongo plant should reach the planned 400,000 tonnes per year. Imports will grow by 16% in response to faster economic growth and demand for capital equipment for at least two new uranium mines and a second desalination plant. If it receives approval, the long-delayed Kudu project will increase equipment imports. Currency depreciation will favour growth in tourism, offset by increased freight costs, and the services deficit will widen. Rising profit remittances by foreign investors will push the income account further into deficit. However, the current transfers surplus will rise strongly owing to a recovery in SACU revenue caused by increased regional trade. Nevertheless, largely because of the widening trade deficit, the current-account deficit will grow to 4% of GDP.