Crystal ball time

The crystal ball is out again.

The National Australia Bank’s business survey for the 1999 December quarter notes that business conditions in Australia strengthened further making for a strong second half of 1999.

Translating the results into business sector activity indicated a growth rate of non-farm business sector activity of more than 5 per cent.

This also suggests GDP would continue to grow over the year at 4.5 per cent.

Of interest is that in the quarter all components of the business conditions index – trading, profitability and employment – improved significantly.

A further comfort from the figures is that the traditional signs of overheating in the economy are not present at this time.

At the same time as the National Australia Bank’s forecasts were released the Bankers Trust Funds Manage-ment arm indicated an estimated growth rate in our economy of 3.6 per cent.