Photo by: Bloomberg
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci’s) Business Confidence Index (BCI) for February regained the 1.4 index points lost in January, with six subindices improving, three unchanged and four declining month-on-month.
However, despite the BCI increasing from 90.5 in January to 91.9 in February, confidence remained 1.1 index points below the February 2013 level, with nine subindices declining year-on-year.
“Economic activity failed to gather pace and the year-on-year data supports only a marginal improvement in February compared [with] January,” the organisation said in a statement on Thursday.
Sacci pointed out that, since March 2013, the BCI failed to gather positive momentum and the business climate remained uncertain and tentative.
“Although global markets and developed economies have shown signs of recovering, this momentum has yet to benefit the South African economy,” it said.
While there were “no signs” that last month’s Budget and State of the Nation Address had an impact on the business climate or the business mood, Sacci believed the implementation of the economic support pledged in the budget and an improved local economic performance would “undoubtedly” enhance business and investor confidence.