Johannesburg - The quarterly business confidence index stumbled in the first quarter of 2015 due to the negative impact of load shedding, which was slightly offset by lower fuel prices and inflation, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) survey, conducted by the Bureau for Economic Research, fell to 49 points in the first quarter from 51 in the previous three months.
This reflected an improvement in retail confidence on the one hand, against a setback in the building and manufacturing sectors on the other.