Key insights from our latest report:

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‍1. Businesses are strongly confident of better economic conditions through 2026 and are backing that view with stronger plans for spending on recruitment, plus, for the first time in our survey, net positive plans to raise inventory levels.

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2. Inflationary pressures, as estimated by the net proportion of businesses planning to raise their selling prices in the coming year, remain low. However, there is an upward trend in place, and how this measure develops through 2026 will give valuable insight into how quickly the economic recovery now underway causes rising inflation and a need for monetary policy tightening by the Reserve Bank.

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3. The net proportion of businesses saying they have concerns about interest rates rising has spiked to the highest level since February following the more hawkish than expected Monetary Policy Statement from the Reserve Bank.

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4. Worries about debt levels and cash flows are improving.