JOHANNESBURG, March 8 (Xinhua) -- South African export volumesdeclined in the fourth quarter of 2015 despite a weaker rand, thefirst contraction since the second quarter of 2014, data releasedon Tuesday showed.

This reflected the fragile world economy and the concomitantslower growth in world trade volumes, the South African ReserveBank (SARB) said in its Quarterly Bulletin.

Though the depreciation in the exchange value of the randboosted the export earnings of domestic producers, these benefitswere more than fully offset by a further fall in internationalcommodity prices, the bank said.

By contrast, import volumes increased further, reflecting firmgrowth in real domestic expenditure that flowed through to risingimports of capital and consumption goods, it said.

Meanwhile, the bank said the country's trade deficit resultantlywidened in the final quarter of 2015, despite a slight improvementin South Africa's terms of trade.

Together with a somewhat larger shortfall on the services,income and current transfer account, the deficit on the currentaccount of the balance of payments widened to 5.1 percent of grossdomestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The gap, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services,increased from a revised 4.3 percent in the previous three months,the bank added, according to the bank.

The deficit for 2015 narrowed to 4.4 percent of GDP from 5.4percent in the previous year. The government is forecasting ashortfall of four percent this year. Enditem