{"id":31992,"date":"2026-04-15T15:47:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31992"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:49:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:49:41","slug":"sas-payinc-index-rises-in-march-as-warning-signs-built","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sas-payinc-index-rises-in-march-as-warning-signs-built\/","title":{"rendered":"SA\u2019s PayInc index rises in March as warning signs built"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to independent economist Elize Kruger, South Africa\u2019s (SA) latest economic data signals a turning point, with the current environment described as \u201cthe calm before the storm\u201d amid growing global pressure from the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The PayInc Economic Index, which tracks the value of electronic transactions in SA, increased by 0.9% in March, lifting the index to 104.7 points. This reflects a 4.6% rise compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kruger says the first quarter\u2019s performance was supported by easing inflation, real wage growth, interest rate cuts and improved consumer confidence, all of which helped strengthen spending activity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, she warns that these gains may be under threat as external risks intensify.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Kruger described the current moment as \u201cthe calm before the storm\u201d, pointing to the impact that escalating geopolitical tensions could have on SA\u2019s economic outlook in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13745,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31992","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"PayInc Economic Index, which tracks the value of electronic transactions in SA, increased by 0.9% in March","published_date":"2026-04-15 15:42:51","news_description":"PayInc Economic Index, which tracks the value of electronic transactions in SA, increased by 0.9% in March","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31994,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31992\/revisions\/31994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}