The South African economycontinuedto grow at a high rate during the year that ended on 30 June 1974and at the end of this period had been in an upward phase of the business cycle for about twenty months, i.e.from about the middle of the fourth quarter of 1972.The overall growth rate of the economy, as measured by the increase in the real gross domestic product. was not particularly high for the year under review, owing mainly to negativecontributionsby the agricultural and gold mining sectors.However, the bumper maize and other summer crops of 1974 will only be reflected in the production figures for the third quarter, with the result that for the calendar year 1974 a growth rate of about 7 per cent is expected.Furthermore, the more rapid rise in export prices than in import prices enabled South African residents to purchase a larger volume of goods and services abroad with the proceeds of the same volume of exports.Because this favourable turn in South Africa's terms of trade is taken into account in the calculation of the real grossnationalproduct. it is noteworthy that this measure of the economic welfare of the residents of South Africa showed an increase of 10 per cent in real terms for the year 1973/74, compared with an increase of 6 per cent during the preceding year. The different measures of economic growth, therefore, indicate that South Africa is experiencingone of its best growth periods at a time when most industrialised countries' economic growth rates are very low or even negative.