ECONOMY UNDERPERFORMING
Rand rally fails to boost SA business confidence
The recent rally in the rand has not been enough to stem a slide in business confidence, which again fell in June, stoking fears that the South African economy continued to underperform in the second quarter. The rand has gained 2.59% on the dollar in July but is still down more than 8% in 2018. It lost 16% in the second quarter to end-June, after gaining 4.5% in the first. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) business confidence index (BCI) released on Tuesday slipped slightly from 94.0 in May to 93.7 June — the worst reading in eight months. The BCI has declined each month from a high of 99.7 index points in January 2018. It dropped by a further two index points between April and May to 94 index points, mainly because of lower merchandise import and export volumes. "Today’s [BCI] figures have only strengthened our view that the optimism that surrounded the February inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa has not translated into a real or sustained boost for...
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