{"id":33411,"date":"2025-04-03T13:38:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T13:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/?p=33411"},"modified":"2025-04-03T16:04:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:04:56","slug":"south-african-corporates-maintain-positive-sentiment-despite-economic-uncertainties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/builder\/south-african-corporates-maintain-positive-sentiment-despite-economic-uncertainties\/","title":{"rendered":"South African corporates maintain positive sentiment despite economic uncertainties"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post<\/a> was originally published on this site<\/a><\/p>

<\/p>\n

Tawanda Karombo<\/span><\/p>\n

Resilient South African corporates and investors have adopted an overall positive sentiment on the economy on the back of expected strong earnings despite risks emanating from fiscal pressures, tensions with the United States and government of national unity (GNU) disagreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bank of America economists and analysts said on Thursday that South African corporates are optimistic of a positive earnings outlook. <\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Jacks, head of South Africa research at Bank of America Merill Lynch, said that South African firms have exhibited resilience \u201c<\/span>despite <\/span>a<\/span> host of <\/span>headwinds\u201d such as logistics logjams they have had to dea<\/span>l with over the<\/span> past few years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the o<\/span>verall sentiment, we’d say, from corporates <\/span>was <\/span>posititive<\/span>\u2026 t<\/span>hat’s mainly <\/span>at<\/span>tri<\/span>b<\/span>uta<\/span>ble<\/span> to the earnings growth outlook,\u201d said Jacks during a virtual briefing with media.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of <\/span>SA <\/span>companies are speaking about strong earnings growth in the coming year, with many, even alluding to top digit growth.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, this rosy outlook was not premised on a solid outlook of GDP growth for South Africa. The robust growth outlook for corporate SA earnings was being driven by \u201cinnovations\u201d and \u201cfocused investments\u201d in areas such as technology and Artificial Intelligence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Bank of America is now \u201c<\/span>more bullish on precious metals, <\/span>telcos<\/span>, consumer and financials<\/span>\u201d sectors.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Retailers in SA who have been witnessing a sustained shift to value and budget offerings were more inclined to post <\/span>mid single digits <\/span>in <\/span>like for l<\/span>ike<\/span> growth<\/span>. There was likely to be deflation <\/span>in certain categories<\/span> such as <\/span>staples, such as maize and rice<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although SA corporates have exhibited optimism, said Jacks, banks, bankers and chief financial officers (CFOs) were still cautious about the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cB<\/span>ank<\/span>s and <\/span>CFOs are generally more cautious on <\/span>the <\/span>economy than most. <\/span>C<\/span>ompanies are <\/span>(also) <\/span>still<\/span> <\/span>hesitant to invest due to global uncertainty, global reforms and lack of consumer growth<\/span> (although) <\/span>they are seeing investment in energy infrastructure,<\/span>\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for Tatonga Rusike, Sub-Saharan Africa economist for Bank of America, said South Africa still has to shrug off fiscal risks, tensions within the GNU and deal with US relations that were increasingly becoming strained.<\/span><\/p>\n

These risks were militating against GDP growth for South Africa. Bank of America has had to downgrade its 2025 GDP<\/span> growth forecast for South Africa from 1.6% previously to around 1.4%<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was reflective of t<\/span>he delays<\/span> to <\/span>domestic reforms, as well as rising global <\/span>uncertainty <\/span>and slowing global growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cW<\/span>e have also kept our medium te<\/span>r<\/span>m forecasts on growth unchanged<\/span> <\/span>which means we still expect that growth would likely stay<\/span> <\/span>above 1.5% over the medium term. <\/span>We have <\/span>GNU risks that are now increasing, starting with the budget reading, and then now with the budget being passed, without the support of the other GNU partners<\/span>,\u201d said Rusike.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amid fears and concerns that the GNU could implode, Rusike said there was likely to be a \u201c<\/span>reconfiguration of the GNU, rather than<\/span> a <\/span>breaking down <\/span>of the <\/span>concept of the G<\/span>N<\/span>U<\/span>\u201d in its entirety.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other risks facing South Africa\u2019s growth and performance were related US\/<\/span>South Africa relations<\/span>. With US President Donald Trump insisting on Wednesday that \u201cbad stuff\u201d was happening in South Africa, some economists believe that diplomatic efforts to mend relations between the two countries have yet to yield results or headway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>We do think that the approach that South Africa is taking, is more on negotiating in the background through the diplomatic channels, rather than to pursue on the public fights,\u201d explained Rusike.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cS<\/span>o perhaps that could find a way of making compromises along the way and perhaps improve relations over time, rather than what they appear to be today.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

BUSINESS REPORT<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tawanda KaromboResilient South African corporates and investors have adopted an overall positive sentiment on the economy on the back of expected strong earnings despite risks emanating from fiscal pressures, tensions with the United States and government of national unity (GNU) disagreements.Bank of America economists and analysts said on Thursday that South African corporates are optimistic of a positive earnings outlook. Michael Jacks, head of South Africa research at Bank of America Merill Lynch, said that South African firms have exhibited resilience \u201cdespite\u00a0a\u00a0host of\u00a0headwinds\u201d such as logistics logjams they have had to deal with over the\u00a0past few years.\u201cHowever, the overall sentiment, we’d say, from corporates\u00a0was\u00a0posititive\u2026 that’s mainly\u00a0attributable to the earnings growth outlook,\u201d said Jacks during a virtual briefing with media.\u201cThe vast majority of\u00a0SA\u00a0companies are speaking about strong earnings growth in the coming year, with many, even alluding to top digit growth.\u201dNonetheless, this rosy outlook was not premised on a solid outlook of GDP growth for South Africa. The robust growth outlook for corporate SA earnings was being driven by \u201cinnovations\u201d and \u201cfocused investments\u201d in areas such as technology and Artificial Intelligence.Still, Bank of America is now \u201cmore bullish on precious metals,\u00a0telcos, consumer and financials\u201d sectors.\u00a0Retailers in SA who have been witnessing a sustained shift to value and budget offerings were more inclined to post\u00a0mid single digits\u00a0in\u00a0like for like\u00a0growth. There was likely to be deflation\u00a0in certain categories\u00a0such as\u00a0staples, such as maize and rice.Although SA corporates have exhibited optimism, said Jacks, banks, bankers and chief financial officers (CFOs) were still cautious about the economy.\u201cBanks and\u00a0CFOs are generally more cautious on\u00a0the\u00a0economy than most.\u00a0Companies are\u00a0(also)\u00a0still\u00a0hesitant to invest due to global uncertainty, global reforms and lack of consumer growth\u00a0(although)\u00a0they are seeing investment in energy infrastructure,\u201d he said.But for Tatonga Rusike, Sub-Saharan Africa economist for Bank of America, said South Africa still has to shrug off fiscal risks, tensions within the GNU and deal with US relations that were increasingly becoming strained.These risks were militating against GDP growth for South Africa. Bank of America has had to downgrade its 2025 GDP\u00a0growth forecast for South Africa from 1.6% previously to around 1.4%.This was reflective of the delays\u00a0to\u00a0domestic reforms, as well as rising global\u00a0uncertainty\u00a0and slowing global growth.\u201cWe have also kept our medium term forecasts on growth unchanged\u00a0which means we still expect that growth would likely stay\u00a0above 1.5% over the medium term.\u00a0We have\u00a0GNU risks that are now increasing, starting with the budget reading, and then now with the budget being passed, without the support of the other GNU partners,\u201d said Rusike.Amid fears and concerns that the GNU could implode, Rusike said there was likely to be a \u201creconfiguration of the GNU, rather than\u00a0a\u00a0breaking down\u00a0of the\u00a0concept of the GNU\u201d in its entirety.Other risks facing South Africa\u2019s growth and performance were related US\/South Africa relations. With US President Donald Trump insisting on Wednesday that \u201cbad stuff\u201d was happening in South Africa, some economists believe that diplomatic efforts to mend relations between the two countries have yet to yield results or headway.\u201cWe do think that the approach that South Africa is taking, is more on negotiating in the background through the diplomatic channels, rather than to pursue on the public fights,\u201d explained Rusike.\u00a0\u201cSo perhaps that could find a way of making compromises along the way and perhaps improve relations over time, rather than what they appear to be today.\u201dBUSINESS REPORT<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-builder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33412,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33411\/revisions\/33412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.premium-partners.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}