By Thebe Mabanga
Business confidence took a knock in the second quarter of this year on the back of higher energy prices and expectations that interest rates could increase.
The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index fell from 47 in the first quarter to 39 in the second quarter as the US/Iran war disrupted supply chains, pushed up oil prices and heightened uncertainty.
The decline takes the index below its long-term average level of 40, but it remains well above the level of 27 reached in the second quarter of 2023, when the South African economy was in the grip of load-shedding.
The survey was conducted from 14 to 25 May, when the operating environment had changed markedly from the first-quarter survey, which was conducted before the escalation in the Middle East.
RMB/BER said the shift in the global environment had changed expectations for South Africa’s interest-rate trajectory.
Markets had previously
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