Confidence in the engineering sector was up in the second half of last year as conditions continued to surprise firms, according to a survey released by Consulting Engineers SA (Cesa) on Friday.
Cesa’s bi-annual economic and capacity survey showed that the confidence index for July to December last year was revised from an expected level of 85.0 to 98.1.
The more upbeat sentiment was maintained for the next 12 months, averaging 98.3 for the first half of this year and 98.5 for the last half.
Cesa said the revised confidence level was at its highest since 2008/09.
Investment by private businesses showed a modest improvement but was offset by lower growth in public corporations and general government.
Cesa expected investment growth to continue to surpass Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, projected to increase by between four and five percent over the next two years.
