Business confidence in Australia at weakest in three and half years
11 Dec 2012
Business confidence in Australia was down to its weakest level in three-and-a-half years last month with the slowing of the economy. The closely watched NAB monthly business survey showed falling confidence in November, down especially in manufacturing.
Business conditions continued to remain at multi-year lows amid falling profitability and increasing rising wage and purchasing costs. The most troubling was a sharp slide in forward orders, which fell from minus six to minus 11 in the month.
According to NAB head of economics Rob Brooker, there was no one reason for the deterioration.
He said, business conditions had not been positive for eight consecutive months.
He said the economy was going through a soft patch and he thought businesses were experiencing tough times at the moment. Brooker added, companies were concerned that forward orders, or future business, was on the decline.
He said, especially in the group where conditions remained very soft - manufacturing, retail, construction and wholesale had been suffering from very poor business conditions for quite some time.
