Business confidence recovered in the third quarter, pulling back from its worst slump on record in the previous three months, as SA’s economy began opening up in earnest.
The BCI surveyed 1,800 respondents across five sectors: manufacturers, building contractors, retailers, wholesalers and new-vehicle dealers. The index’s neutral mark is 50, with a reading below that deemed negative. The confidence figures came after Stats SA released figures showing that the economy contracted at an annualised rate of 51% in the second quarter, or 16.4% if the data is not annualised.
Though data is still outstanding, said Le Roux, these developments suggest GDP can recover some lost ground, possibly increasing by an annualised rate of 20%-25% in the third quarter.