Australia second-quarter business investment contracts by most in four years – TheChronicleHerald.ca

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian business investment fell by the most in four years last quarter as coronavirus lockdowns forced firms to delay purchases of equipment, but future spending plans remained surprisingly intact in a hopeful sign of recovery.

During the June quarter, investment declined 5.9% to A$26.1 billion ($18.9 billion) on top of a downwardly revised 2.1% fall in the March quarter, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed on Thursday.

However, the outcome was far better than market forecasts for an 8.4% slump.

Surprisingly, Australian firms seemed confident about the future, with the latest estimate for spending plans for 2020/21 at A$98.6 billion, 8.9% higher than the previous estimate.

(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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