Overrated as a social evil, inflation, naturally enough, is proving to be a promising cocktail for many businesses in Australia.
Half-yearly survey research by ScotPac, a specialist SME lender, at first glance looks improbable.
ScotPac’s SME Growth Index Report shows 53 per cent of SMEs are projecting revenue growth to September 2024,a finding that contrasts with the macroeconomic gloom and the insights from other long-running business surveys such as NAB.
“Remarkably, the average predicted growth rate of 8.8 per cent is the highest ever recorded in the decade-long history of ScotPac’s SME Growth Index Report” ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton said yesterday.
Western Australian and Queensland SMEs “remain the most positive in the nation” with 89 per cent and 81 per cent respectively forecasting six-month revenue growth.
Victorian SMEs are the nation’s most pessimistic with just 14 per cent projecting revenue
growth compared with 65 per cent flagging a decline in fortunes.
“The fact that most SMEs remain optimistic in a challenging economic climate is a great
indicator of the agility of Australian business owners who continue to adapt and thrive,”
Sutton said.
One way of looking at this data is that businesses, most of them, embrace inflation, however fickle this beast may be.
Learning to live with inflation and prospering from it, this is now the only game in town.