- Westpac
Australians were less confident about the economic outlook and their family finances in April. The survey of 1,200 respondents by the Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank showed the consumer sentiment declined 4% to 95.1 this month from 99.1 in March, leaving the measure 1.1% down on April last year at 95.1, meaning pessimists outnumbered optimists. The sub-index tracking assessments of ‘family finances compared to a year ago' decreased 3.8%, while the component tracking expectations for ‘family finances over the next 12 months' fell by 6.6%. Australians were also worried about the economic outlook, with the component tracking views on ‘economic conditions over the next 12 months' sliding 5.5% and the component tracking expectations for ‘economic conditions over the next 5 years' slipping 5.9%.
The deterioration in consumer sentiment underscores an increasing divergence between how businesses and consumers view the outlook for the economy. A similar survey of the business sector showed that Australian firms viewed business conditions as being at their best level since 2008 last month. The National Australia Bank Business Confidence Index surged from 3 in February to 6 last month, while the NAB Business Conditions Index soared 8 to 12, the highest reading since the global financial crisis.
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