JOHANNESBURG- South Africa’s business confidence index plunged to a 10-year low of 92.8 in May, extending this year’s downward spiral as the unstable global economic environment takes its toll on domestic firms, data showed in Thursday.

The data from the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) had the index at 94.3 in April.

“Local business environments continue to be plagued by challenges. The lack of alignment across economic policy positions locally is cause for concern as business seeks policy stability in an increasingly perplexing domestic economy,” SACCI said in a statement.