South Africa’s trade surplus shrank in July as the exports of precious metals and stones, which include gold and diamonds, fell. The surplus decreased to 5.2 billion rand ($354.3 million) from 12.5 billion rand in June, the Pretoria-based South African Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. The median of nine economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for a surplus of 8 billion rand. The rand’s 27% drop against the dollar in 2015 has boosted exports, even as demand in South Africa’s largest trading partners was subdued. Low metal prices and the worst drought in more than a century have weighed on Africa’s most-industrialized economy, which will probably not grow at all this year, according to the central bank. The cumulative surplus for 2016 is 17.4 billion rand compared with a deficit of 24.7 billion rand in the same period last year, the revenue agency said. The surplus may help narrow the shortfall on the current account, which swelled to 5% of gross domestic product in the three months through March.