Australian corporates appear to be caught in a crisis of confidence when it comes to the country’s business environment and their willingness to take on risk.
Deloitte’s Q4 2014 quarter results show financial market volatility, commodity prices, uncertainty over China’s economic prospects and the ongoing Budget impasse are all impacting on investment confidence and driving only modest growth ambitions, although recent falls in the value of the Australian dollar are a positive sign.
CFO attitudes towards taking on greater balance sheet risk had been on an upward trend until the second quarter of 2014. This quarter we saw risk aversion set in, and an overall sense of caution, across both individual companies and the wider market, appear to be taking a real hold and impacting investment appetite and growth strategies.
