Business conditions have slipped back in April after a strong surge in March, according to the National Australia Bank (NAB) business survey for April.
“Business conditions deteriorated a little in April down 4 points to 5 index points, though this outcome was not entirely unexpected given the particularly strong March outcome,” NAB said in the survey.
According NAB, the fall was driven by a sharp fall in trading conditions and a drop in profitability but the business conditions index is slightly below the long-term average of 6 points.
“Conditions in Queensland remain weaker than the national average. While business confidence softened in April, it remained positive and is now in line with trend,” it said.
In trend terms, retail conditions were one of the weakest industry which was equal -6 points with manufacturing. Meanwhile, conditions were strongest in mining at 18 points and recreation & personal services at 14 points.