Business Confidence Increases In South Africa In September

Written by Ann Brown

Oct 06, 2013

Business confidence as measured by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) improved slightly, by 0.9 index points in September to 91.4 — the first time in five months the index has been above 90.

Sacci’s business confidence index (BCI), released on Thursday, tracks monthly developments in key economic indicators such as the rand exchange rate, manufacturing, share prices and inflation, which have a bearing on the business mood in South Africa.

“After the last four difficult months, the business environment was still subdued in September 2013,” Sacci said.

“The September 2013 BCI figure is of significance in breaking away from a seemingly stale position.”

The BCI was only 0.3 index points below the level of September 2012 but still well below the 100 points of the 2010 base year.

The month-on-month changes in the BCI subindices in September were tipping more towards the positive — in contrast with August — with six subindices positive on the month.

Year on year, six subindices made negative contributions to the BCI, six made positive contributions and one was neutral.

The improved levels of the municipal services index, merchandise export volumes, manufacturing output and building plans approved, compared with last year, made notable positive contributions to business confidence.

The year-on-year changes in the financial environment were less reassuring as inflation, private borrowing, the rand exchange rate and precious metal prices had a negative impact on business confidence.