Regional Western Australian businesses are the most confident in Australia, while their city counterparts’ levels of optimism have fallen dramatically, a survey released today says.
Sensis’ Business Index for June showed 23 per cent of businesses nationally were confident about their prospects over the next 12 months, while just 19 per cent of WA businesses shared that positivity.
Export values were down 16 per cent in WA over the month, according to Sensis, compared to a 12 per cent rise nationally.
Report author Christena Singh said WA confidence had fallen below the national average on the back of rapidly deteriorating consumer sentiment.
“However, the overall fall in business confidence was caused by declines in business confidence in Perth,” Ms Singh said.
“In fact, confidence in regional Western Australia was the strongest of any metropolitan or regional area of Australia.
“Overall, trading conditions have been mixed during the quarter for Western Australian small business.
“On the one hand, the profitability indicators rose to the highest level in Western Australia in over 12 months and is the nation’s strongest.
“On the other hand, the sales and capital expenditure indicators dropped, with employment remaining stable.”
Small businesses in WA, however, were largely optimistic, with five in 10 confident regarding the next year and just 30 per cent worried.
“Taxation is the most common area Western Australian small businesses said they would like to see reformed, with the GST and workplace relations the next nominated areas for reform,” Ms Singh said.
