Confidence among South African small business owners was notably lower towards the end of 2021, with concerns set to continue into 2022.
This is according to the Q3 2021 SME Index conducted by Business Partners, which found that the confidence that small-medium sized enterprises owners have that their businesses will grow in the next 12 months has plummeted from 61% in Q2 2021 to 33% in Q3 2021. This is a stark contrast with the same period in 2020, where confidence was 72%.
For many SMEs, better prospects seemed within reach with the onset of the festive season, but hopes were clouded with the arrival of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. “While an issue affecting business across the country is the knock-on effects of a dwindling economy, direct indicators being the GDP which contracted 1.5% in Q3 2021 and a persistent increase in the cost of living as a consequence of the recent petrol price hike.”
Confidence that the local economy will be conducive for business growth in the next 12 months decreased to 20%.Dolphin concludes with a ‘wishlist’ of sorts for the SME sector in 2022, among which is the hope that the energy supply will be stabilised.
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