"The Australian economy has softened, with leading indicators suggesting the first half of 2013 will be difficult"
- Gobal head of economics at NAB, Alan Oster
Business confidence in Australia rose sharply last month, as local firms were encouraged by signs of recovery in the world economy, the National Australia Bank survey showed Tuesday. The Australian business confidence index soared 12 points to 3 in December, following a minus 9 reading in the preceding month, when it reached its lowest level since April 2009. At the same time, the survey showed that domestic business conditions deteriorated in the same month, while the business conditions index stood at -4 in December compared with -6 in the prior month. Despite the improvement, the bank said it was not yet known if the feelings of optimism would continue into this year, due to the challenging conditions in several sectors as manufacturing, retail and construction.
"When combined with particularly weak activity readings in the preceding three monthly surveys, the December monthly survey provided further evidence that the Australian economy slowed into the back end of 2012," NAB said.
"The Australian economy has softened, with leading indicators suggesting the first half of 2013 will be difficult," said global head of economics at NAB, Alan Oster.
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