Miners borrowing for once

John Kavanagh
Mining, manufacturing and the finance sector are the chef contributors to the recent pick-up in business lending.

The Reserve Bank published quarterly data on business lending yesterday, showing total business credit outstandings rising by 2.13 per cent in the March 2012 quarter.

The March quarter increase represents growth at an annualised rate of 8.5 per cent.

The A$689 billion in outstandings is the highest figure recorded by the RBA since March 2009.

Miners are not big bank borrowers (at least according to banks reporting to the RBA) and account for only $15.3 billion of the total, but their outstandings increased by 8.2 per cent in the quarter.

Finance and insurance outstandings increased 5.6 per cent, and manufacturing industry ourtstandings increased by 4.8 per cent.

Sectors that reported growth figures below system included construction (up 1.49 per cent over the quarter) wholesale, retail and transport ((up 1.7 per cent) and agriculture (up 0.88 per cent).