State of South African Business
January 2026
The economy, what South African business news covered, what the directory holds and what people looked for — counted, not estimated.
7.25%Repo ratefrom 25 Sep 2026 · South African Reserve Bank
4.4%Inflation (CPI)August 2026 · Stats SA
33.6%UnemploymentQ2 2026 · Stats SA
-0.2%GDP growthQ2 2026 · Stats SA
127business stories read1 publishers
10 061businesses on the directory388 verified · 9 provinces
1. The economy
| Indicator | Latest | Before | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repo rate | 7.25% | 7% | from 25 Sep 2026 | South African Reserve Bank |
| Prime lending rate | 10.75% | 10.5% | from 25 Sep 2026 | South African Reserve Bank |
| Inflation (CPI) | 4.4% | 4.3% | August 2026 | Stats SA |
| Petrol 95 (inland) | R30.25/l | R26.92/l | October 2026 | Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources |
| Unemployment | 33.6% | 32.7% | Q2 2026 | Stats SA |
| GDP growth | -0.2% | 0.4% | Q2 2026 | Stats SA |
| Rand / US dollar | R16.52 | R16.58 | 16 Oct 2026 | ExchangeRate-API |
| Rand / euro | R18.53 | R18.54 | 16 Oct 2026 | ExchangeRate-API |
| Rand / pound | R21.91 | R21.93 | 16 Oct 2026 | ExchangeRate-API |
2. What the news covered
127 stories from 1 South African publishers. Each headline and teaser was read for the industries it concerns and the companies and institutions it names.
Our news desk began reading on 1 October 2026, so this month is not compared with the one before.
3. The directory
10 061 businesses listed, across 9 provinces. 4 were listed by their owners this month (9 the month before), and 0 owners asked to claim a listing built from public sources.
By province
- Gauteng4 394
- Western Cape2 301
- KwaZulu-Natal682
- Eastern Cape222
- Mpumalanga100
- Limpopo100
- Free State96
- North West91
- Northern Cape33
Largest industries
- Marketing3 169
- Media2 194
- Design1 237
- Construction1 083
- Information Technology995
- Retail686
- Education547
- Lifestyle480
- Manufacturing475
- Tourism446
4. What people looked for
0 searches, 0 questions put to the pros and 0 answers.
Fewer than three searches named any one trade — too few to report.
Method and sources
- Economic indicators are reproduced from the South African Reserve Bank, Statistics South Africa, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources and ExchangeRate-API, as named on each row.
- News counts cover the headlines and RSS teasers of the publishers on our news page; a topic is counted when it appears in at least three stories from two publishers.
- Directory counts are businesses listed on Business.co.za, excluding quarantined listings. Listings built from public sources are not counted as new in any month.
- Search demand is counted only where a search names a trade and three or more searches were made.
Cite this report
Business.co.za (2026). State of South African Business, January 2026. https://www.business.co.za/report/2026-01 (accessed 16 October 2026).Licence CC BY 4.0. The underlying data: open data.