Economy-wide spending slowing, warns CBA

According to the latest Commonwealth Bank Business Sales Indicator (BSI), while business spending rose 5.3 per cent in September, economy-wide spending slowed to 0.3 per cent, the slowest pace in almost three years. 

CommSec chief economist Craig James said: “The stellar rise in business spending shows that the federal budget initiatives are proving to be sustainable over a longer period; however this growth hasn’t helped boost the broader economy.

“Still, while economy-wide spending growth has slowed, it remains well above the decade average and we’ve also seen strong seasonally adjusted growth.

“With growth across a number of retail-based sectors, businesses should be feeling optimistic leading into the holiday season,” Mr James said. 

While sales in business services noted the largest increase in September, miscellaneous stores were up 1.2 per cent. The transportation and contracted services sectors also increased by 0.9 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. 

On a state-by-state basis, Tasmania experienced the highest sales growth, up 1.0 per cent in September. Tasmania has also experienced the strongest growth in annual terms, up 9.1 per cent. 

Conversely, sales in Victoria and New South Wales fell by 0.8 per cent and 0.1 per cent in September respectively. New South Wales is down 4.7 per cent for the year, with Victoria down 1.7 per cent.