Business confidence declined marginally in January 2011 to 87.4 from 87.6 in December, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said on Thursday.
Releasing its monthly Business Confidence Index (BCI), SACCI said January 2011’s level was 6.2 index points higher than that of January 2010.
“This is the largest year-on-year difference since March 2010 when the index started to exceed the previous year’s level,” said the chamber.
Compared to last year, nine of the 13 sub-indices gathered positive momentum, while those sub-indices that remain in negative territory should recover as economic growth improves in 2011, provided that relative price stability is maintained.
“On a month-on-month comparison, the BCI did not show important changes in January 2011, except for the sub-index on the rand exchange rate. All the other indices remained steady, while the positive contribution of manufacturing was notable,” said SACCI.
Moving on to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Switzerland, under the theme “Shared norms for the new reality”, SACCI said the challenge remaining for South Africa was how it would align itself to these new realities by being an active part of the world economy and increase domestic activity.
“The theme of South Africa’s competitiveness should underpin all dialogue and negotiations between government, business and labour in 2011. There are areas within South Africa where global competitiveness ratings and the rigidity of markets raise serious questions for sustainable growth over the longer term,” said SACCI. – BuaNews
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