South Africa - Natural gas rents (% of GDP)

Natural gas rents (% of GDP) in South Africa was 0.016 as of 2019. Its highest value over the past 48 years was 0.059 in 2011, while its lowest value was 0.000 in 1971.

Definition: Natural gas rents are the difference between the value of natural gas production at world prices and total costs of production.

Source: Estimates based on sources and methods described in "The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium" (World Bank, 2011).

See also:

Year Value
1971 0.000
1972 0.000
1973 0.000
1974 0.000
1975 0.000
1976 0.000
1977 0.000
1978 0.000
1979 0.000
1980 0.000
1981 0.000
1982 0.000
1983 0.000
1984 0.000
1985 0.000
1986 0.000
1987 0.000
1988 0.000
1989 0.000
1990 0.006
1991 0.011
1992 0.008
1993 0.012
1994 0.010
1995 0.010
1996 0.011
1997 0.010
1998 0.006
1999 0.014
2000 0.029
2001 0.055
2002 0.055
2003 0.025
2004 0.032
2005 0.037
2006 0.043
2007 0.042
2008 0.048
2009 0.034
2010 0.041
2011 0.059
2012 0.054
2013 0.058
2014 0.051
2015 0.037
2016 0.019
2017 0.019
2018 0.032
2019 0.016

Development Relevance: Accounting for the contribution of natural resources to economic output is important in building an analytical framework for sustainable development. In some countries earnings from natural resources, especially from fossil fuels and minerals, account for a sizable share of GDP, and much of these earnings come in the form of economic rents - revenues above the cost of extracting the resources. Natural resources give rise to economic rents because they are not produced. For produced goods and services competitive forces expand supply until economic profits are driven to zero, but natural resources in fixed supply often command returns well in excess of their cost of production. Rents from nonrenewable resources - fossil fuels and minerals - as well as rents from overharvesting of forests indicate the liquidation of a country's capital stock. When countries use such rents to support current consumption rather than to invest in new capital to replace what is being used up, they are, in effect, borrowing against their future.

Limitations and Exceptions: This definition of economic rent differs from that used in the System of National Accounts, where rents are a form of property income, consisting of payments to landowners by a tenant for the use of the land or payments to the owners of subsoil assets by institutional units permitting them to extract subsoil deposits.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The estimates of natural resources rents are calculated as the difference between the price of a commodity and the average cost of producing it. This is done by estimating the world price of units of specific commodities and subtracting estimates of average unit costs of extraction or harvesting costs (including a normal return on capital). These unit rents are then multiplied by the physical quantities countries extract or harvest to determine the rents for each commodity as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Natural resources contribution to GDP