Business confidence in South Africa (SA) weakened in March to 131.3 points due to the impact from the war in the Middle East.
The drop in sentiment follows a modest recovery in February when the index rose to 134.6 after recording a level of 131.4 at the start of 2026.
However, the South Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Business Confidence Index still reflected stronger activity in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the previous year.
Month-on-month, the drop in sentiment between February to March was mainly due to external factors including a weaker Rand, lower share price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and declining global precious metal prices among other influences.
Independent economist John Loos explains that confidence in March was still higher than a year ago.
“I think the decline was definitely to be expected given what has happened globally with global markets and a lot of it related to the middle east conflicts. We know oil prices have risen, and we know that the Rand came under pressure as soon as the conflict started.”
–SABC–
