News that the country’s trade surplus narrowed to around R12.53 billion last month boosted the currency.

JOHANNESBURG - The rand has strengthened against the dollar after favourable trade surplus figures.

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) says the country's trade surplus narrowed to around R12.53 billion last month, from over R18.36 billion the month before.

Following the news, the rand strengthened and at 4pm, it was at around 13.96 to the dollar, 18.41 to the pound and 15.58 to the euro - breaching the 14.0000 mark for the first time since November.

Sars says the latest figures show that exports have increased, which economists agree is a good sign for the local economy.

It says exports inched up 0.7 percent to R105.2 billion on a month-on-month basis.

This is compared to imports of R92.7 billion, a 7.6 percent increase.

Some of the areas where imports improved last month include machinery and vegetable products.

It says there was a trade surplus of R12.516 billion from January to last month, a vast improvement from a shortfall of R22.94 billion during the same period last year.

The latest figures show more goods are being exported than brought into the country, with agreement that this is a positive sign for growth.