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Brief note intended as a more regular interface with our clients. The emphasis is to provide our interpretation of important economic events, such as South African Reserve Bank interest rate statements, and key data releases, including GDP growth figures.
This note summarises the insights from the latest round of BER surveys in the trade, manufacturing and building industries. The RMB/BER Business Confidence Index (BCI) declined to 43 in 2015Q2 and there seems to be a high degree of uncertainty among respondents. Business conditions and activity deteriorated across the building, manufacturing and retail sectors. Trading conditions are clearly tough and even higher percentages of respondents rated insufficient demand as a constraint during the quarter. In terms of the 2015Q2 GDP reading, the quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth rate is likely to decline slightly in line with lower confidence levels and average activity levels.
