South Australian business confidence improves slightly – but still lowest in the nation
September 03, 2012
South Australian businesses remain concerned that people are not spending money, and they have weaker views on current economic conditions than businesses in any other state or territory.
During the quarter, more South Australian businesses reported decreasing sales, prices and profitability, reduction in the size of the workforce and increased wages. These were the lowest results of any state or territory in the sales, profitability and price indicators over the last three months.
Despite these results, businesses cited their forward orders and contracts to be filled, and the fact they were an established and experienced business as reasons for their confidence in their prospects over the next 12 months.
Report author, Christena Singh, said that while South Australian business confidence levels were substantially below the national average, there were signs that business expected conditions to improve in some areas over the next quarter.
“South Australian businesses are expecting to see a small increase in sales in the next quarter along with jumps in profitability and a steadying of employment, however they are expecting to increase their prices and cut back on capital expenditure to achieve this.”
Regional South Australian businesses remain substantially more likely to express confidence in their prospects than their metropolitan counterparts.
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