Business confidence survey underscores unrelenting cost pressure

Business confidence survey underscores unrelenting cost pressure
Rebecca Howard
Business confidence slipped in October, with cost and inflation pressures off the charts, according to the latest ANZ business outlook survey.A net 13.4% of firms surveyed expect the economy to deteriorate over the year ahead, more than the 8.6% who were downbeat in the preliminary reading and the 7.2% pessimism level in September.However, regarding firms’ expectations for their own activity, a net 21.7% expect their business to grow in the next 12 months, down from 26.2% in the preliminary October survey but up from 18.2% in September. &...