Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- The latest Quarterly Business Survey from NAB has detailed Australia’s continuing recovery in terms of both growth and activity during the first three months of 2021
- Importantly, capacity utilisation — a measure of activity — surpassed its pre-COVID level and rose to 82.3 per cent in the March quarter
- Retail led the charge, with activity in the mining industry lagging behind
- Business conditions and confidence both increased to 17 points, strengthening in most industries to above their long-run averages
- Of the states, WA had the highest score for business conditions, whereas SA recorded the highest level of business confidence
The latest Quarterly Business Survey from NAB has detailed Australia’s continuing economic recovery in terms of both growth and activity during the first three months of 2021.
The latest Quarterly Business Survey from NAB has detailed Australia’s continuing economic recovery in terms of both growth and activity during the first three months of 2021.
Importantly, capacity utilisation — a measure of activity — rose to 82.3 per cent in the March quarter and surpassed an important marker.
“In this quarter we hit an important milestone; not only does it appear that activity continues to grow at a good pace, but the capacity utilisation index now suggests that the level of activity is back around its pre-COVID level,” said NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster.
This growth, however, was not felt equally across industries, he explained.
“It is worth noting that there are still differences across industries — capacity utilisation in retail, which in aggregate has been boosted by the change in spending patterns — is well above its pre-COVID level while some service industries, as well as mining, remain below.”
Business conditions and confidence both increased to 17 points, compared to a low of -24 and -15, respectively, in the June quarter of 2020.
The upward trajectory of both measures indicates the nation’s economic recovery is building momentum, according to Alan.
“What is particularly welcome is that the improvement is broad-based with conditions and confidence improving in most industries and are at an above-average level in all.”
Of the states, WA had the highest score for business conditions at 29 points, followed by Queensland on 19.
In terms of business confidence, South Australia recorded the highest levels at 22 points, followed by WA.
