Territory economic review
Economic Group
Northern Territory. Department of Treasury and Finance
Territory economic review; Department of Treasury and Finance newsletters; PublicationNT; E-Journals
2014-12-01
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).; This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Northern Territory -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
Darwin
application/pdf
Northern Territorty Government
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/254030
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534437
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534440; https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534442; https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534443; https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534445; https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534438
10 Economic Group, Department of Treasury and Finance Business Environment Business outlook for the next three months more optimistic New motor vehicle sales experienced its fifth consecutive monthly decline Nominal retail trade turnover experienced its fifth monthly decline Business confidence The September 2014 Sensis Business Index reported that confidence levels of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Territory for the upcoming year increased by 33 percentage points to +50 per cent, the highest level of all states. Nationally, business confidence levels grew by 16 percentage points to +28 per cent for the same period. The actual conditions experienced by Territory SMEs in the three months prior to the survey (May 2014 to July 2014) increased in all categories with the exception of profitability (down 4 percentage points) and sales value (stable). For the next three months, Territory SMEs were more optimistic, compared to the previous quarter recording increases across size of workforce, prices and capital expenditure. However, Territory SMEs were less optimistic about sales value, wages bill and profitability (Table 4). Table 4: Expectations of SMEs over next three months Previous Quarter Current Quarter Net balance Net balance Sales value +36% +27% Size of workforce +1% +5% Wages bill +28% +12% Prices +16% +22% Profitability +31% +17% Capital expenditure -17% +1% Source: Sensis Business Index Retail trade turnover In trend terms, retail trade turnover in the Territory decreased by 0.4 per cent to $254 million in October 2014. In the year to October 2014, retail trade turnover in the Territory increased by 4.3 per cent (Table 5). The increase was primarily due to higher spending on food (up by 8.3 per cent) and pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry (up by 46.9 per cent). Growth in the year to October 2014 was partially offset by lower spending on cafes, restaurants and takeaway food (down by 10.9 per cent) and newspaper and book (down by 38.3 per cent). Table 5: Retail turnover in the Territory, year to October 2014 (original terms) Value1 Change2 $M % Food retailing 1 430.0 8.3 Household goods retailing 497.6 2.7 Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing 155.1 2.0 Cafe, restaurants and takeaway food services 436.2 -10.9 Other3 543.3 10.9 Total 3 062.0 4.3 (1) Annual total in the year to October 2014 (2) Year to October 2013 to year to October 2014 (3) Comprises newspaper and book, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry, other recreational goods and confidential items Sales of new motor vehicles In October 2014, the number of new motor vehicle sales in the Territory declined by 1.2 per cent to 886. Other jurisdictions also experienced a decline in the sale of new motor vehicles in the month, with the exception of South Australia (no change) and New South Wales (up by 0.5 per cent). In the year to October 2014, the number of new motor vehicles sold in the Territory decreased by 4.1 per cent. This was driven by a decline in all vehicle categories with the largest decline in other vehicles (down 6.7 per cent). Tourism In the year to September 2014, the total number of visitors to the Territory increased by 12.9 per cent to 1.3 million. Growth was driven by a 14.2 per cent increase in domestic visitor arrivals and an 8.5 per cent increase in international visitors. The rise in international visitors was led by increasing visitors from New Zealand, Indonesia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.