Australian business conditions have risen to close to a three-year high, a private survey shows, while business confidence is up for the first time in four months.
And, manufacturing conditions recorded a surprisingly strong turnaround in January, the National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey of more than 400 firms has found.
The survey shows business conditions maintained December’s momentum, rising one point to four, the best since March 2011 and close to their long-run average.
Confidence is up two points to eight, and is above its long-run average. It also is generally positive across all states.
“Now that conditions are on the rise, confidence may continue its run of surprising (post-election) resilience for a while longer,” NAB said on Tuesday.
“Confidence is now positive for most industries, although wholesale (a bell-wether industry) and mining are both negative – significant given the increased importance of mining to the Australian economy.”
Conditions appear to have turned around due to low interest rates and a depreciating Australian dollar, the NAB said.
Inflation pressures remained subdued, but were building on the back of rising costs while labour costs growth was restrained.