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
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/289257
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/404114
Palmerston. The Darwin CBD accounts for 67.1% of gross lettable area in the Territory, reflecting its predominance as the commercial centre of the Territory. Bankruptcies Figure 7.2 shows the annual change in bankruptcies from 1992 to 1996 for the Territory and Australia. In 1996, the total number of bankruptcies increased by 73.2% to 97 in the Territory and 29.3% to 19 819 nationally. (Note that the figures for the Territory are very volatile due to the large impact that small changes can have.) While these substantial increases correspond to generally weaker economic growth over the past year, the total number of registered businesses in the Territory increased by 8% during 1996 to 17 011. Business Conditions Outlook Business conditions in the Territory are expected to improve throughout 1997-98. The completion of several retail developments, good prospects for tourism and strong population growth are expected to provide a boost to business activity in the second half of 1997. The Yellow Pages Small Business Index tracks confidence and behaviour in the small business sector, defined as businesses employing 19 people or fewer. The Small Business Index for February 1997 indicates that small businesses in the Territory expect improved sales and are generally more confident of their own business prospects in the next 12 months. Nationally, the economy is expected to grow weakly in the first half of 1997 and should pick up pace as it moves into 1998 as the strongly growing sectors of resource and communications investment are joined by housing investment and manufacturing later in the year. Public sector spending is expected to be restrained as the Commonwealth Government attempts to further cut its outlays in order to reduce its budget deficit. Interest rates should remain low, offsetting to Bankruptcies (annual change) -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 % Source: Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia Figure 7.2 Australia Northern Territory Business Conditions 37