After falling from 43 to 38 in the third quarter, the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB)/Bureau for Economic Research (BER) business confidence index (BCI) fell by a further two points to 36 in the final quarter of 2015 – its lowest level in five years.
“Over the past year, business confidence has dropped by a full 15 points,” said Ettienne le Roux, chief economist of RMB.
He pointed out that manufacturing confidence remained unchanged (at 34), noting that this mirrored production growth which continued to track sideways at weak levels.
“As for patterns in overall sales volumes, stronger growth in domestic sales by manufacturers of mainly non-durable consumer goods compensated for export growth, which lost some momentum,” said le Roux.
