The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci) BCI fell to 79.3 in May from 82.5 the previous month.
The index slipped to 79.6 in December after President Jacob Zuma changed finance ministers twice within the space of a week.
“The BCI suffered a setback following a gradual recovery in April 2016, from a historic low level of 79.6 in December 2015. This was undone in May 2016,” Sacci said in a statement.
“Seasonally adjusted merchandise import volumes had the largest negative month-on-month effect in May 2016, followed by real retail sales and a weaker weighted rand exchange rate against the US dollar, euro and the British pound.”
