Business confidence appears to be improving if the increase in the number of business startups is anything to go by.

The number of new businesses in the June quarter jumped 23 per cent on the previous three months and was up nine per cent in the year to June, a Dun and Bradstreet study shows.

The survey also found that 64 per cent more respondents were positive about the economy than a year ago.

Dun and Bradstreet chief executive Gareth Jones said low borrowing costs were helping improve business confidence.

“Confidence is critical for entrepreneurship and these numbers on business startups indicate there is a building mood of positivity about opportunities in the economy,” he said.

“Despite more businesses entering the market during the last quarter, D&B has measured a quarterly decline in the number of failures.”

Business failures – those that seek legal relief from creditors or cease operations without paying creditors in full – fell 11 per cent in the June quarter but were up nine per cent in the year to June.

More than half of the business failures recorded in the June quarter were in the services and the manufacturing sectors.

Dun and Bradstreet’s economic adviser Stephen Koukoulas said he was not worried about the number of business failures.

“In a vibrant economy where risk taking is to be encouraged, there will always be some businesses that simply don’t make it,” he said.

“The critical issue is that the number of new business startups outpaces business failures. If this trend can be sustained for the year ahead, the rate of economic growth should remain firm.”