DECEMBER 2022 Wide-Bay-Sept-December 2022

Latest results of the December Quarter Pulse Survey
indicate a continuation of the unusual situation observed
in the previous quarters – weak business confidence as
a result of steady business performance being undercut
by overwhelming cost pressures. Expectations for the
March 2023 quarter predict that these cost pressures are
unlikely to ease in the short term.

DECEMBER 2021Wide-Bay-Sept-2021 (1)

Latest results for the Pulse Survey in the September Quarter indicate that
Wide Bay’s business community is ready but needing for our economy and life to
return to the norm.

JUNE 2021

Latest results for the Pulse Survey in the June Quarter indicate the Wide Bay business community is not out of the woods yet and continues to do it tough.

The overall results are negative but represent small changes rather than large movements and hopefully are a case of ‘two steps forward with one step back’ as opposed to ‘one step forward with two steps back’. In short the June quarter’s results indicate that Wide Bay’s economic recovery is far from assured.

MARCH 2021

“Strong local business activity has continued in 2021. I firmly believe that local activity has never been
busier. We are seeing a boom in activity caused by households not spending money overseas and
businesses busily diversifying. However, with that comes new challenges. My business and clients
are finding it challenging to get staff with the right skills to keep up with demand.”

DECEMBER 2020

Business confidence across Wide Bay Burnett exceeded the State average with the community remaining far enough away from the impacts of COVID-19. Growing regional sentiment was primarily driven by an uptake in seasonal activity and positive construction activity during the December quarter. Businesses also benefited from the complete implementation of staged easings of restrictions and the announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine becoming available in the March quarter (2021). However, similar to the rest of Queensland, business vulnerability is indeed in a new normal. While business conditions have improved significantly since the downturn in March, COVID-19 uncertainty remains a limiting factor for a sustained recovery in the region.

SEPTEMBER 2020

The results of the latest CCIQ Pulse Survey have recorded an
improvement which builds on the recovery from the COVID-19
Economic Crisis. While business sentiment has improved
across the board, confidence in the future economic outlook
remains poor, especially for the Queensland economy. Persistent
pessimism across these indicators stems mostly from the
significant reliance of many small businesses on state and federal
stimulus measures and a lack of foreseeable action on social
distancing restrictions. Entering into the December quarter,
businesses across the Wide Bay Burnett (WBB) region are being
forced to adapt to the ‘new norm’ where economic activity is
better than at the COVID-19 peak but well short of normal and
sustainable business activity.

JUNE 2020

The latest results from the Suncorp CCIQ Pulse Survey for the June quarter 2020 have indicated a slight improvement on the

March quarter despite conditions and performance continuing to remain very poor.

The results for the June quarter continue to reflect the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on Queensland businesses
during the March quarter 2020. General business conditions and trading performance have been impacted by business restrictions
(commencing 18th of March) which prevented viable trade for the majority of Queensland businesses during the June quarter.
Especially in April, during the height of the social distancing guidelines and forced business closures, business revenues collapsed.