Australia Business Confidence

Last Release

May 31, 2025

Actual

Units In

Points

-1

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Jul 09, 2025

Time to Release

27 Days 1 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
23 Apr 2021	-66 Mar 2020	4.8 Points	1997-2025	National Australia Bank

The NAB monthly survey of business confidence is based on a telephone survey of around 600 small, medium and large size non-agricultural companies. The Survey measures the expectations of business conditions for the upcoming month and is a simple average of trading, profitability and employment indices, reported by respondents for their company. The indices are calculated by taking the difference between the percentage of respondents nominating good or very good, or a rise and those nominating poor or very poor, or a fall.

Latest Updates

Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index rose to 2 in May 2025 from -1 in April, turning positive for the first time since January and marking its highest level in four months. Sentiment strengthened in most sectors except manufacturing, mining, and wholesale. However, business conditions eased again (0 vs 2 in April), reflecting a steady fall since late 2024. Employment deteriorated (0 vs 4), profitability stayed negative (at -4), and sales slowed (5 vs 6), with retail and manufacturing seeing the largest declines. Forward orders edged up (-2 vs -3), capital spending surged (6 vs 1), and capacity utilization was higher (82.3% vs 81.4%). Purchase cost growth moderated (1.1% vs 1.7%), while labor costs gained slightly (1.7% vs 1.6%). Product price growth fell to 0.5%, with retail price growth steadying at 1.2%. “Business conditions remain weak. If this continues in the coming months, it will be difficult for confidence to rise from current levels,” said NAB Chief Economist Sally Auld.