The escalating cost of doing business was currently the biggest concern facing the private sector, a survey by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) has found.

According to Sacci’s 2013 Annual Survey, which polled 64 businesses with at least 24 000 employees, 42% of the business community felt that the escalating cost of doing business was the biggest concern, followed by the related issue of regulatory compliance costs, at 16%, and the cost of, or access to, finance at 13%.

A further 8% of respondents indicated that inadequate or failing infrastructure was their biggest concern, uncertainty over changes to laws and crime both came in at 6%, while labour strife and public service delivery challenges each received 4% of the votes.

Sacci CEO Neren Rau also pointed out that, while the survey showed a muted outlook for 2014, expectations were better than in 2013.

“Business mostly had negative experiences over the past year and is not overly optimistic for 2014. [However, while] the general experience for 2013 was mostly “worse”, the expectation for 2014 is mostly “no real change” and [49%] of businesses are expecting an improvement within their own business,” he said.

Meanwhile, the study also found that the majority of businesses saw no change in their labour force in 2013, and also did not plan to expand this year.

“While most businesses do not plan to increase their workforce, more businesses are likely to employ additional staff rather than reduce staff in 2014,” Rau said.

According to the study, 25% of businesses planned to expand their employment in 2014, while only 21% planned to cut staff.

Further, with regard to industrial action, the majority, or 91%, of businesses surveyed did not experience a strike in 2013, while 87% stated that they also did not expect a strike this year.

“Unfortunately, at 14%, more firms expect a strike this year, than the 9% who have experienced it in 2013,” he said.

Rau added that factors such as the high cost of doing business, regulatory burdens and high financing costs would require strong advocacy efforts by Sacci to make the business environment more conducive to economic growth and job creation.