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06OCT2021-WED
ACA monthly SME COVID tracker report: Small businesses find hope
Wednesday 6th October 2021
Xero Small Business Index shows green shoots in sales
Data released last week by Xero produced as part of its small business index shows SMEs continue to struggle through lockdowns. The data shows small businesses are performing below average, containing the downwards trend from July.
ACA monthly SME COVID tracker report: Small businesses find hope
ACA Research’s monthly SME COVID tracker report shows that despite revenue and employment data remaining weak, SME decision-makers are feeling hopeful for the prospect of opening up by Christmas.
According to Finder’s analysis of RBA figures, the number of ATM withdrawals has fallen by 66% since its peak in December 2008. “Finder anticipated a cashless society in Australia by 2036 a few years ago, and now even that timescale may be too far,” says Finder’s Graham Cooke. According to another study conducted by the card payment startup Square, one in every four Australian businesses is cashless. While cash transactions may be dropping, the value of notes in circulation has increased, primarily as a store of wealth.
According to the Commonwealth Bank’s head of business banking, workforce shortages will be the most difficult hurdle for businesses when the economy recovers, with hotel operators particularly hard hit by border closures and people leaving the industry. Mike Vacy-Lyle, CBA’s group executive for business banking, was optimistic about the economic picture as NSW and Victoria prepare to reopen in the next weeks and months, predicting significant pent-up demand for hospitality and retail.
Australia’s property price boom isn’t stopping at the city limits, with abundant crops and low loan rates driving up the price of farms. According to agri-focused lender Rabobank, agricultural land prices soared in 2020 and are expected to rise for at least the next five years, with a scarcity of available land on the market creating a bidding war for those who want a share. According to Rabobank’s newly issued Agricultural Land Price Outlook, all states, with the exception of New South Wales and South Australia, experienced a double-digit rise in median value per hectare as the nation’s agricultural economy enters an economic sweet spot.The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) expects the value of farm production to reach $73 billion in 2021/22, an impressive 8 per cent above last year’s $68 billion records, and 17 per cent above the five-year average.
According to a new analysis by ACOSS and UNSW, the persons who are most economically impacted by COVID-19 are those who live in low-income areas. In September of this year, the number of people receiving income support payments was 27% greater than before the pandemic. Furthermore, lower-income communities have seen the biggest growth in reliance on income support payments. ACOSS advises the government not to proceed with its proposal to phase out COVID Disaster Payments if vaccination rates reach 80%.
The United States has announced a fresh approach to trade relations with China, pledging to take “all necessary steps” to safeguard US interests “to the hilt.” Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she will seek new negotiations with Beijing over the country’s inability to honour promises made in the first phase of a trade agreement reached with Donald Trump. She also did not rule out the possibility of imposing additional trade tariffs.
According to Facebook, social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram are back up and running after a nearly six-hour outage. According to the company, the cause was a faulty configuration update. Facebook owns all three services, which could not be accessed via the web or smartphone apps. Downdetector, a company that monitors outages, said it was the greatest failure it has ever seen, with 10.6 million problem reports from around the world.
Life Insurance Corporation of India, the country’s largest insurer, is ready to go public in what is believed to be the largest initial public offering in the country’s history. According to the Press Trust of India, the state-owned insurer is expected to file preliminary papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India by November. According to government authorities, the public offering will take place this fiscal year. With more than $500 billion in assets, the insurer controls almost 60% of the Indian life insurance market.
Trade discussions with the European Union have been halted after wavey waters between France and AUKUS drowned political correspondence. EU President Ursula von der Leyen has postponed the talks on a free trade deal until November. Before any new economic agreements can be made, German and Lithuanian leaders say trust must be rebuilt between the countries.
According to a new major international assessment, Australia is tied for last in a ranking of the gender pay gap among six countries. The analysis, issued by King’s College London with help from experts at The Australian National University, put Australia and the United Kingdom joint last in a variety of gender pay gap reporting systems. The researchers assessed and graded Australia, France, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom on 11 indices of women’s pay equality. Spain took top place with a score of 8.5 out of 11, followed by France with a score of 8. Australia scored 4 out of 11 points.
According to new data, almost 270,000 Australian youngsters under the age of 12 are being introduced to the world of share trading by their parents. According to a national poll conducted by comparison site Finder, that is the anticipated number of people who have accounts set up in their names and are learning the intricacies of buying and selling stocks. 2% of the country’s children have bitcoin accounts.
If isolation regulations for those exposed to COVID-19 are not loosened, pubs and eateries may choose to remain closed even after Canberra’s lockdown is lifted. Anthony Brierley, general manager of the Australian Hotels Association ACT, has warned that venues will not go through the “horror” of reopening on October 15 if they know that a single infection might shut them down and force workers into a fortnight’s quarantine.
OPEC and its allies gather to discuss how much oil to release into the volatile market, where supply interruptions and rebounding demand from the COVID-19 outbreak have driven oil prices above $80 per barrel. The three-year high in oil prices has been worsened by a 300 percent surge in gas prices, which have come to trade close to $200 per barrel due to supply bottlenecks and limited output of other fuels.
In an interview with CNN, a Facebook executive stated that the company does not feel its social media service is a key contributor to the political polarisation that has become prevalent in the United States.
Ozy Media, a US media company, has announced its closure after a growing controversy over its business methods. It comes after claims that Ozy’s COO misled potential investors during a conference call and is now being investigated by the FBI.
