Pretoria - The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (SACCI's) Business Confidence Index (BCI) has recorded its highest reading this year in August.
SACCI said the index grew by 3.3 points to 87.6 points in August from 84.3 in July.
"The level of the BCI for August 2010 is 4.6 points above the level for the same month in 2009 and is the highest reading for the BCI to date in 2010," said SACCI on Tuesday.
Comparing July and August 2010 and year-on-year nine sub indices of the BCI showed improvements on both counts.
"It can be expected that the spike in the SACCI Business Confidence Index during August 2010 will be followed by a correction as unusual positive developments on the trade account and net financial inflows from the rest of the world created the positive shift.
"However, the BCI will probably continue its generally positive trend in the medium term smoothing out the short-term volatility," the Chamber said.
SACCI said the labour disputes such as the public servants strike have unknown dimensions for policy and crippling implications for instances where there are still public service delivery backlogs.
"The outcome of the public servants strike will have serious consequences for already tight fiscal circumstances as well as unintended consequences for employment prospects," it said.
