https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Audio / Audio Articles RSS ← Back
Africa|Business|Cutting|Eskom|Manufacturing|Power|System|Manufacturing
Africa|Business|Cutting|Eskom|Manufacturing|Power|System|Manufacturing
africa|business|cutting|eskom|manufacturing|power|system|manufacturing-industry-term
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

South African business confidence gets boost from coalition government, survey shows

Close

Embed Video

South African business confidence gets boost from coalition government, survey shows

GNU cabinet

4th September 2024

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

South African business confidence rose in the third quarter, helped by improving optimism about the business climate after the formation of a coalition government and stable electricity supply, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The business confidence index rose to 38 points in the third quarter from 35 points in the prior quarter, according to the survey by the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research.

Advertisement

"Fortunately, the widely anticipated interest rate cut in South Africa later this month, on the back of lower consumer inflation and a boost from the introduction of the two-pot retirement system should spur domestic demand through the remainder of the year," Isaah Mhlanga, chief economist at RMB said in a statement.

The South African Reserve Bank is expected to start cutting interest rates from this month for the first time in four years.

Advertisement

The African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years in May, and later formed a broad coalition with several parties including the market-friendly Democratic Alliance.

Additionally, State-owned power utility Eskom managed to keep the lights on for over five months without scheduled blackouts in the country where power cuts have hampered economic growth for over a decade.

However, businesses activity was still constrained especially from weak demand, but the survey indicated conditions are expected to improve in the next quarter.

Retail confidence improved to 45 points from 39 in the previous quarter helped by improvement in durable and semi-durable traders' sales volumes.

Manufacturing sector confidence remained stable 28 points as a drop in production due to declining exports and domestic demand was offset by optimism at new vehicle dealers surging to a one-year high.

Wholesale trade was the most optimistic sector surveyed, with over half of respondents satisfied with prevailing business conditions.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za