Australian businesses feeling positive
10 Dec 2009
Source: Transport and Logisitics News
The risk of rising inflation impacting the Australian economy appears to be declining, with only a net seven per cent of Australian firms expecting to raise their prices in the March quarter of 2010. In other positive signs for the business outlook expectations for sales and profits also improved.
These findings are from the latest D&B Business Expectations Survey, which examines expectations for the 2010 March quarter following the Christmas trading period.
Expectations for selling prices have fallen by 68 percentage points since the March quarter of 2009. One in five (19 per cent) firms expects to raise prices in the March quarter, while 12 per cent expect to lower prices. Wholesale executives have experienced the most significant drop in expectations for increased prices, falling 80 percentage points since the March 2009 quarter to a net index of minus three. Fifteen per cent of firms expect to increase prices and eighteen to reduce prices within the wholesale sector in March quarter 2010. In the retail sector expectations of selling prices have dropped eleven percentage points to a net eight percent compared to a high of a net seventy six percentage points in the March quarter of 2009. The expectation of a reduction in selling prices comes as the Reserve Bank (RBA) implements measures to ensure underlying inflation concerns are managed.
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