The latest business confidence index published by the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday showed that SA businesses were in November still less confident than the same month last year.
The index was at 96.1 in November 2018 and fell to 92.7 last month.
But the index did improve by 1 percentage point from October 2019, when it came in at 91.7. The improvement, according to SACCI, was due to more positive merchandise trade volumes of exports and imports.
"The slight upward movement of the [index] should be viewed with caution as specific once-off positive data releases had a positive effect. However if this positive move could be established in a wider business context, the BCI stands to recover," said SACCI in its release.
The chamber said SA's business climate remains "tight" as the economy continues to struggle. It said lower global growth and uncertain world trade situation was impacting SA's economic performance, while "inevitable structural adjustments" needed to let the economy perform better are still lacking
"The effect of indecisiveness and the time lapses to taking action are going to impact critically on the economy and therefore business and investor confidence as year-end approaches," it said.