Economy dampens business confidence

business-confidence/

29 January 2016
| By Malavika |
image
image
expand image

The initial boost in business confidence buoyed by the appointment of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister has worn off, with confidence declining by 3.4 per cent in January, following a December decline of 3.5 per cent.

Roy Morgan Research's Business Confidence figures showed confidence had declined 3.9 points in January to 110.6 on the back of the negative local and international economic environment, which saw the Australian Securities Exchange slide by 8.6 per cent in the first three weeks of January.

Despite the decline in confidence over the last three months, it was still 7.8 per cent above levels before the appointment of Turnbull.

The decline was a sign that negative economic events easily affected business confidence, with confidence levels now below the five year average of 116.8.

Industry communications director, Norman Morris, said ongoing coverage of the slowdown in Chinese growth, the drastic decrease of oil prices and other commodities, and the worsening budgetary situation in Australia have all affected the ASIX and business sentiment.

"With business confidence declining, it remains a challenge for both the state and federal governments to create a positive environment and plan that will encourage business growth against what is likely to remain a volatile international economic environment," Morris said.

Only 52 per cent of businesses now believed Australia would see better economic conditions over the coming year, down from the five year average of 60.2 per cent.

But 60 per cent of businesses said the next 12 months would be good time to expand their business, which was higher than the five year average of 56.4 per cent.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

So we are now underwriting criminal scams?...

2 months ago

Glad to see the back of you Steve. You made financial more expensive, not more affordable as you claim, and presided ...

2 months ago

Completely agree Peter. The definition of 'significant change is circumstances relevant to the scope of the advice' is s...

4 months ago

Entireti has unveiled the new name for the AMP financial advice businesses that it acquired last year....

4 weeks 1 day ago

A Sydney financial adviser has been permanently banned from providing any financial services, with the regulator deriding his “lack of integrity, trustworthiness and prof...

3 weeks ago

Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has provided further information about the second tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) reforms....

1 week 6 days ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS