Civil debt judgements up in Feb
Fri, 18 Apr 2008
There were 60 920 civil judgments for debt, amounting to R560.7-million in February, Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) announced on Thursday.
Up 16.8 percent on the value of civil judgments in February last year, this was the first annual increase since October 2007, StatsSA found in its survey of civil cases for debt.
The largest contributors to the R560.7-million were civil judgments relating to money lent, at R153.3-million or 27.3 percent, and promissory notes and other acknowledgements for debt (including credit cards), at R128.8-million or 23 percent, it said.
StatsSA said that despite this increase, the total number of civil summonses issued for debt for the three months ended February 2008 decreased by 11.3 percent compared with the three months ended February 2007.
The major contributors to this decrease were civil summonses issued in respect of money lent, which were down 9.1 percentage points; promissory notes and other acknowledgements for debt, down 1.6 percentage points; and other debts, down 1.2 percentage points.
The number of civil judgments recorded for debt had also decreased, by 10.3 percent, on the three months ended February 2007.
This was mainly because of a decrease in civil judgments in respect of money lent, by 7.9 percentage points; goods sold on open account, by 2.5 percentage points; and promissory notes and other acknowledgements for debt, by 1.3 percentage points.
StatsSA found that the value of civil judgments for debt had also decreased, by 2.4 percent, on the three months ended February 2007.
The largest factors behind this move were civil judgments pertaining to other debts going down 3.7 percentage points; money lent, by 2.6 percentage points; and goods sold on open account, by 1.2 percentage points.
StatsSA noted that civil judgments regarding promissory notes and other acknowledgements for debt had increased 2.3 percent.
StatsSA bases its monthly civil debt survey on information obtained from selected magistrates' offices.
