Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Business confidence as measured by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) improved by 0.6 points to 87.6 in December 2010 following a 1.1 point rise to 87 in November.
SACCI says the lack of significant movement in the Business Confidence Index (BCI) between November and December 2010 was attributable to the BCI sub-indices being either unchanged or marginally positive.
Import volumes was the only sub-index that declined between November and December.
Despite the decline in the BCI in the first quarter of 2010 to 82.5 from 83.3 in the last quarter of 2009, the index gradually gained ground in 2010 to average 83.7 in the second quarter of 2010.
It averaged 86.6 in the third quarter and 86.8 in the last three months of 2010.
The average for the BCI in 2010 was 84.9 compared with 82.8 in 2009, which represents a 2.1 index point improvement.
In December, eight BCI sub-indices had a positive effect on the annual improvement of the BCI in December 2010. These include liquidations, exports, vehicle sales, inflation, real private sector borrowing, real financing cost, precious metal prices and the rand exchange rate.
Four of the sub-indices - namely manufacturing, imports, construction (buildings) and share prices - made a negative annual contribution while one sub-index, retail sales, was neutral.
Although global economic growth recovered in 2010, boosting both business and consumer confidence, SACCI says forecasts imply that some momentum may be lost in 2011.
It adds, however, that it is encouraging that forecasts predict sub-Saharan Africa will experience higher economic growth in 2011.
