BCI declines further

Mon, 07 Jul 2008

The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI)'s Business Confidence Index declined further to 92.6 in June 2008 after measuring 93.0 in May 2008, the organisation said on Friday.

"The political turmoil in Zimbabwe and the poor response it has elicited from certain African quarters has lead to negative sentiment towards Southern Africa ... This accordingly weighed negatively on business confidence in SA," SACCI said.

The global economic slowdown had also created sentiment that influenced already tough local economic conditions, SACCI added.

Since a record level of 103.5 was registered in December 2006, the BCI declined by 10.9 index points to the current 92.6 in June 2008 – some ten points above the BCI for the period 2001 up to the middle of 2003 when the BCI remained relatively flat.

The average for the SACCI BCI in the first half of 2008 was 93.4 compared to the average of 100.5 in the first half of 2007.

"Given the intensity of the adjustments and adverse prevailing economic conditions, SACCI believes that business confidence will remain under pressure over the medium term."