The second-quarter results of a long-running internal BER (Bureau of Economic Research) has confirmed the devastating economic fallout of the phased lockdown restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The BER’s other services survey showed that business confidence in the sector had plummeted from an already-low level of 17 in the first quarter to a meagre 7 in the second quarter.
“This is a record low in the 15-year history of the survey which revealed that activity in restaurants, hotels and real estate came to a complete standstill, while transport and business services registered historically unprecedented falls in the second quarter.”
Along with the record low Q2 reading for the RMB/BER Business Confidence Index and the close to all-time low for the FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index , the results of the other services survey provide further evidence that South Africa suffered a historic GDP decline in the second quarter, according to the survey.
