South Africa Business Confidence Drops Sharply in March

African business coverage presents the March 2026 confidence slump as a sign that South Africa’s domestic weaknesses are being exposed by global shocks. Commentators point to power cuts, policy uncertainty, and weak consumer demand as the main problems, with the Iran war adding pressure through higher costs and softer export markets. They fear that without domestic reforms, external shocks like the Iran conflict will keep triggering sharp drops in confidence.

• •South African business confidence in March 2026 fell at its fastest pace since the Trump tariff period.
• •Local firms blame frequent power outages and infrastructure failures for lost sales and higher costs.
• •Policy uncertainty and slow reforms are discouraging new investment in South Africa’s manufacturing and services sectors.
• •The Iran war is feeding through to South Africa via higher import costs and weaker demand from trading partners.
• •Business groups warn that further external shocks could deepen South Africa’s growth slowdown unless domestic issues are fixed.