JOHANNESBURG - After encouraging numbers in February, businesses suffered a fresh setback in March according to the S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers’ Index.
The index provides a snapshot of operating conditions in the private sector.
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It dropped from 50.8-points in February to 48.4 in March.
Power cuts as well as the water crisis, are mentioned as factors - and increases in output prices and fuel prices also played a role.
There is some optimism with expected lower levels of power cuts and the improvement in the backlog at the ports.