Not only did the recent local taxi and labour strikes, high-profile murders and “ill-conceived utterances” from political figures risk potentially deterring visitors from attending the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but this also did not bode well for investor perception, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Wednesday.

The chamber noted that its policy radar had remained “tentative” on the majority of focus areas over the past six months.

However, the ease of doing business was expected to improve in the coming months when the King Code of Corporate Governance III and the new Companies Act were implemented.

Further, Sacci highlighted that the assurance given by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Labour that the abolition of labour brokering was not supported had relieved fears of possible labour difficulties, albeit that temporary employment would be more strictly regulated. 

The cost of communication was also expected to decline, going forward, as lower communication tariffs were introduced and improved broadband capacity was brought on line. 

Local mobile service providers have agreed to drop interconnection rates in the coming years, with the first decline having been implemented on March 1.

The operators, which had previously charged consumers about R1,25 a minute in interconnection fees, had proposed reducing the peak-time interconnection rates to 89c a minute by March, to 85c a minute in October 2011 and to 80c a minute by October 2012.

This had also prompted fixed-line operator Telkom to reduce its fixed-to-mobile call charges by about 22%.

Meanwhile, Sacci said that its quarterly review had shown that while risks to the global financial systems had moderated, the improvement in financial stability remained fragile.

Trade volumes would likely improve by about 9,5% this year, but global unemployment would remain high, it added.

Locally, it warned that while consumer price inflation had been contained, this would remain under pressure as increases in administered prices come into effect in April.

State-owned power utility Eskom had been granted a 24,8% electricity tariff hike from April 1, while a 25,5c/l fuel levy increase also came into effect in early April.