Key insights from our latest report:

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‍1. There is a strong lift in plans to spend more on recruitment. The improvement since the middle of last year likely reflects expectations of stronger customer flows and a need for extra staff, with underlying awareness that in some areas shortages of good people may already exist.

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2. A key concern this month is the rise in the net proportion of businesses saying they plan to raise their selling prices over the coming 12 months, even though there is no obvious extra lift in cost pressures currently underway. The pricing plans may reflect a desire and need to rebuild margins which got crunched in many sectors over the 2022-25 period.

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3. The proportion of businesses concerned about where interest rates are headed has climbed to 27% from just 8% three months ago. This may be due to the recently higher than expected inflation outcome, rises in wholesale interest rates, and forecasts of monetary policy tightening this year.