JOHANNESBURG Oct 3 (Reuters) – Business confidence in South
Africa fell again in September after a rebound the previous
month, weighed down by a wave of mostly illegal strikes that
have hit the mining sector in particular.
The Business Confidence Index (BCI) shed 3.3 points to 91.7
in September, not far off a 12-month low of 90.9 reached in
July, data from the South African Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (SACCI) showed on Wednesday.
“Recent developments in the domestic labour market weighed
heavily on the BCI,” SACCI said in a statement, alluding to
strikes by as many as 75,000 miners that have hit platinum and
gold mining firms and further threatened the country’s shaky
growth prospects.
The business grouping was also concerned about Moody’s
downgrade of South African debt last week and its drop by two
positions in the 2012/2013 World Economic Forum competitiveness
rankings.
(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa, editing by Agnieszka Flak)
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