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Category: Business, Economics and Finance / Industry / Globalisation - Economy / Economic Trends

Queensland businesses remain gloomy about the future

Thursday, 27 Oct 2016 22:10:07 | Chris O'Brien

Business confidence is down in Queensland. (ABC News: Raveen Hunjan)

Queensland businesses remain gloomy about the future despite improved conditions, according the Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (CCIQ) quarterly Pulse Survey.

The September findings showed sales and revenue were on the rise, but confidence in the state and national economies remained on a downward trend, partly because businesses had a low opinion of both state and federal politics.

CCIQ spokesman Nick Behrens said the divergence between confidence and conditions was an intriguing result.

"A number of recent indicators have highlighted improvement in the Queensland economy, but it appears this is yet to filter through to strengthening business confidence," he said.

"Collectively, Queensland businesses are less confident about the state's economic prospects, yet individually businesses are reporting solid trading conditions and increased sales."

A lack of political leadership

Mr Behrens said the contradiction reflected business opinion about the State Government and the opposition.

"We're continuing to hear back from businesses that on both sides of politics we aren't really seeing the leadership and direction the business community wants to see," he said.

"There's a perceived lack of action from the State Government and certainly that overarching leadership is not quite what business expects."

Mr Behrens said business wanted to see less politics and more substance.

"What we're seeing at the moment is any issue we see spiral down to games and politicking," he said.

Mr Behrens said the paradox could also be explained by a view that the Federal Government did not have the numbers in parliament to fulfil its national agenda.

"Nationally, the 12-month outlook fell by 1.6 percentage points to 48.8 for the September Quarter. This places the index below both the neutral level [50.0], and the five-year average [49.3]," he said.

"Business confidence in the Queensland economy also fell, and at 41.4 it is now at its lowest level since the March Quarter 2015.

"The 12-month outlook is now 8.0 percentage points below the five-year average [49.4]."

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