Budget Paper No.6 1997/98 Northern Territory Economy
Tabled Paper 3223
Tabled Papers for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; Tabled papers; ParliamentNT; Tabled Papers
1997-04-30
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
English
Tabled papers
application/pdf
Copyright
See publication
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/289257
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/404114
Business Conditions Economic indicators such as commercial office vacancy rates, new business registrations, commercial and lease finance commitments and bankruptcies can be used to gauge business conditions in the Territory. The number of new business registrations declined during 1996, while recorded bankruptcies increased substantially in the Territory. While this is reflective of the decline in economic growth experienced in 1996 (after record growth in 1995), commercial office vacancy rates in the Territory are expected to decline during 1997 as the economy grows at more sustainable levels. Nationally, the generally subdued level of economic activity was evidenced by the slight growth in the value of commercial finance commitments, while the number of bankruptcies increased considerably. Business Finance The level of business finance commitments reflects the prevailing and anticipated economic conditions and the confidence held by the business community. Commercial and lease finance includes the majority of finance commitments entered into by business to facilitate the acquisition of goods and capital items and to smooth cash flow fluctuations. Figure 7.1 shows growth in commercial finance (new fixed loans less refinancing plus new and increased credit) in the Territory and nationally. While there has been a slowdown in the growth of commercial finance committed to small and medium sized businesses in the Territory, commitments made during 1996 are nonetheless 11.1% higher than in 1995, and comes after the Territory experienced its fastest rate of growth in annual amounts committed since 1986 in the previous year (35.6%). (Finance raised by major national and transnational companies with operations in the Territory is -20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 1990 1992 1994 1996 Source: ABS Cat. No. 5643.0 % Figure 7.1 Northern Territory Australia Commercial Finance Commitments (annual change) 35