Australian business confidence was at its highest level in a decade, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said on Tuesday. http://www.ferret.com.au/view.asp?a=201443876&n=8&u=59373
Business confidence at 10-year high: ACCI
Australian business confidence was at its highest level in a decade, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said on Tuesday.
In its latest survey of investor confidence, ACCI found businesses have shaken off the November and December interest rate rises.
ACCI chief executive Peter Hendy said there was optimism among businesses at almost every turn.
"Business perceptions of the state of the economy are at the highest level since the series began more than a decade ago," he said in a statement.
"This same perception is mirrored in the conditions found within respondents' own firms where the index has also risen to its highest level in the history of this survey."
Current business conditions as rated in the survey are up 14.5% on last year and 4% on the previous quarter. The survey's index on expectations for economic growth is 14.6% up on the same time last year.
More businesses are expecting interest rates to rise, although more also expect their profits to lift. Businesses also believe the Australian dollar, now at more than $US 0.7600, should stabilise over the next 12 months.
But the survey did find growing concerns about the availability of skilled staff.
Many businesses are starting to find it difficult to find staff, with the issue second behind business taxes and charges as the biggest problem.
In a sign that the Reserve Bank of Australia may have to move further on interest rates, the survey found interest rates were not among the constraints facing businesses.
Hendy said despite the strong findings in the survey, federal and state governments could do more.
"This is an economy travelling very well," he said.
"Making sure we continue forward will require budgets to be kept in surplus, tax reductions introduced in this year's Budget, limited growth in public spending both federally and in the states, Industrial Relations Commission decisions that do no inhibit labour market growth, special attention paid to skills development in the training system and no further increases in rates of interest over the period ahead."
