South Africa’s policy uncertainty index plunges to record low as global and local tensions rise

THE latest Policy Uncertainty Index (PUI) from North West University (NWU) releases on Friday painted a grim picture of South Africa’s economic landscape, with the index plummeting further into negative territory to a staggering 78.5 for the first quarter of 2025, up from -75.1 in the preceding quarter.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

This increase is significantly higher level of uncertainty recorded since the PUI’s inception in early 2016, signalling mounting implications for businesses, con fidence and investment environments in the country.

NWU Business School econo mist, Professor Raymond Parsons, noted that the persistent negative fac tors outweighing positive ones were indicative of broader economic tur bulence.

“Persistent negative factors again outweighed positive ones in the net outcome of the PUI’s calibration of both positive and negative factors influ encing the level of policy uncertainty well into and in the first quarter of 2025,” he said.