Mid-North Coast NSW Business Chamber expects business conditions to be subdued through most of 2013 and is calling for the Reserve Bank to continue its stimulus program by cutting interest rates further during the year.
“After 21 years of continuous economic growth, the economy is starting to falter and that supports the case for interest rates to continue their downward trend over the coming year,” said Kellon Beard, Mid-North Coast NSW Business Chamber Regional Manager.
“The feedback I have been receiving through face to face meetings with business owners and local chambers of commerce, which is backed up by our quarterly business conditions surveys, is that businesses are reaching a crossroads and need financial relief if they are to keep Australians in jobs.
“Business owners are being slammed by a stub-bornly high Australian dollar, a mining boom that is coming off the boil, and weaker consumer confidence. I don’t see that changing in the near future, which means business owners need to buckle down and be prepared to ride out a long storm.
“The Federal Govern-ment seems more interested in raising taxes and finding new and harsh ways to squeeze as many dollars as it can out of the business community. That means it falls to the Reserve Bank to provide some financial relief through lower interest rates.”
Mr Beard said lower interest rates was a two-person dance and the big banks needed to act responsibly by passing on interest rate cuts in full to their small business customers.
“Regardless of the decision that the Reserve Bank makes today – and I sincerely hope it is a further reduction in interest rates – the big banks have been squirrelling away interest rate cuts from their small business customers and it’s high time that they do the right thing and cut their rates.”
