South Africa's business confidence fell to its lowest in twelve years in July as sentiment continues to be hammered by the weak global and domestic economic environments, a survey showed on Tuesday.

The Business Confidence Index (BCI) dropped four points to 90.9 in July after posting a recovery in June, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said.

"The latest move in the BCI indicates that business confidence remains highly fragile and unpredictable," it said.

SACCI said the sub-indices in the real economy were largely negative on a month-on-month basis and the business grouping was concerned about the slowdown of global economic growth and lower growth forecasts for South Africa.

The central bank cut its growth forecast for 2012 to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent last month and the finance minister has said growth will likely come in below 2.7 percent.