SACCI May Business Confidence Index up 7.2%
· The South African
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) May Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose by 7.2% year-on-year.
SACCI noted that the first quarter 2026 average was 7.6% higher than a year ago.
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Performance below optimum
SACCI said economic activities like retail trade, manufacturing output, building plans passed, and mining output are not performing optimally due to constraints.
“These activities play an essential role in underpinning business confidence,” SACCI said.
The high share prices in their view reflect expectations rather than lasting economic substance.
PMIs support BCI
South African businesses improved in the first two months of the second quarter despite the disruptions caused by the Middle East war. This is reflected in the two Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI).
Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show a deterioration.
The BER manufacturing PMI slipped to 50.8 in May from 52.6 in April.
The S&P Global private sector PMI eased to 49.6 in May from 51.6 in April.
This was the first time the private sector PMI had dropped below the neutral 50-point mark in five months.
S&P Global said that despite the worsening business environment in May, good pipelines of new work, advertising plans and hopes for stable market conditions supported confidence in the year-ahead outlook for business activity. In fact, sentiment strengthened and was the highest in the year-to-date.
Prospects
The fact that the SACCI May BCI rose by 7.2% year-on-year points to a better 2026 than 2025 given the growth in the first five months of the year.
This is especially so given the disruption caused by the Middle East. Expectations that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened shortly should boost business confidence going forward.