Media Release

South Coast, South East, Hills and Murray Plains ranks lowest in regional confidence

South Australia’s Southern region is the least confident rural area in the State, behind the West and North, and the Mid-North and Riverland, the latest BankSA State Monitor survey shows.

Comprising South Coast, South East, Hills and Murray Plains, the region’s overall business and consumer confidence fell 6.6 index points since the last State Monitor in June to 94.6 points, suggesting people in the area are more pessimistic than optimistic about the economy.

This compares to 106.3 index points for the West and North, and 104.1 points for the Mid-North and Riverland region.

The September 2014 BankSA State Monitor is the 55th in a series that has tracked consumer and business confidence in the State for more than 15 years.

Business confidence in the Southern region fell 13.1 index points since the last survey in June to 95.4 points in the September survey, while consumer confidence also fell just slightly by 0.1 of a point, to 93.8 points.

A closer look at results for the Southern region shows:

Business confidence: a total of 56% of businesses reported feeling positive about their own business improvement, down from 61% in the previous survey. A total of 66% said they felt positive about their current business situation, down from 73% in the previous survey.

Consumer confidence: a total of 64% of respondents reported feeling positive about their household situation, which remains the same as the previous survey; while only 17% reported feeling positive about getting another job if required, down from 33% the previous survey.

Overall, the September BankSA State Monitor shows that confidence levels among consumers in rural South Australia have experienced a modest lift of four index points to 100.2. However, the same rebound is not reflected among rural business owners, where confidence has fallen 1.4 points to 103.9 index points since the last survey in June.

BankSA State Monitor is an ongoing independent survey conducted three times a year on South Australian consumer and business confidence. The survey commenced in November 1997 and surveys 300 consumers and 300 business owners across the State.