Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index inched up to 3 in January 2026 from a downwardly revised 2 in the prior month, marking the highest reading since October. Meanwhile, business conditions weakened (7 vs 9 in December), due to declines in both sales (10 vs 16) and profits (8 vs 11), while employment held steady for the third straight month (at 4). On the cost side, both labour and input cost pressures continued to ease, while quarterly growth in retail prices slowed further to 0.3% from 0.5% in December. According to NAB economist Michael Hayes, “Measures of cost and price growth in the survey fell to new post-pandemic lows.” He added that “overall, the January survey showed the economy has retained most of its momentum gained through the past year and the level of activity remains high,” even as capacity utilisation has eased somewhat in recent months. The survey was conducted before the RBA raised rates by 25bp to 3.85% last week, the first hike in two years. source: National Australia Bank

Business Confidence in Australia increased to 3 points in January from 2 points in December of 2025. Business Confidence in Australia averaged 4.84 points from 1997 until 2026, reaching an all time high of 23.00 points in October of 2021 and a record low of -68.00 points in March of 2020. This page provides - Australia Business Confidence - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Australia Business Confidence - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on February of 2026.

Business Confidence in Australia increased to 3 points in January from 2 points in December of 2025. Business Confidence in Australia is expected to be 8.00 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the long-term, the Australia Business Confidence is projected to trend around 12.00 points in 2027, according to our econometric models.



Calendar GMT Reference Actual Previous Consensus TEForecast
2026-01-27 12:30 AM
NAB Business Confidence
Dec 3 2 2
2026-02-10 12:30 AM
NAB Business Confidence
Jan 3 2 3
2026-03-11 12:30 AM
NAB Business Confidence
Feb 3


Related Last Previous Unit Reference
Bankruptcies 631.00 1306.00 Companies Jan 2026
Building Capital Expenditure 2.10 0.30 percent Sep 2025
NAB Business Confidence 3.00 2.00 points Jan 2026
Business Inventories -0.90 0.10 percent Sep 2025
Capacity Utilization 74.80 74.80 percent Jan 2026
Passenger Car Sales 13365.00 12033.00 Units Jan 2026
Changes in Inventories -1916.00 1748.00 AUD Million Sep 2025
Composite Leading Indicator 100.77 100.70 points Jan 2026
Company Gross Profits 125152.00 125185.00 AUD Million Sep 2025
Corruption Index 76.00 77.00 Points Dec 2025
Corruption Rank 12.00 10.00 Dec 2025
Industrial Production -0.20 -0.30 percent Sep 2025
Industrial Production Mom 0.50 6.50 percent Sep 2025
Ai Group Industry Index -12.30 -12.50 points Jan 2026
Ai Group Services Index -13.80 -13.80 points Jan 2026
Ai Group Construction Index 5.20 -16.90 points Jan 2026
Ai Group Manufacturing Index -19.40 -18.30 points Jan 2026
Westpac Leading Index MoM -0.10 0.10 percent Jan 2026
Manufacturing Production -1.90 -3.90 percent Sep 2025
Mining Production 0.00 1.30 percent Sep 2025
New Orders 35.00 23.00 points Dec 2025
Plant Machinery Capital Expenditure 11.50 0.70 percent Sep 2025
Private Capital Expenditure 6.40 0.40 percent Sep 2025
Small Business Sentiment -2.00 -8.00 points Sep 2025
New Vehicle Sales 87092.00 98744.00 Units Jan 2026


Australia Business Confidence
The NAB monthly survey of business confidence is based on a telephone survey of around 600 small, medium and large size non-agricultural companies. The Survey measures the expectations of business conditions for the upcoming month and is a simple average of trading, profitability and employment indices, reported by respondents for their company. The indices are calculated by taking the difference between the percentage of respondents nominating good or very good, or a rise and those nominating poor or very poor, or a fall.
Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
3.00 2.00 23.00 -68.00 1997 - 2026 points Monthly
SA

News Stream
Australia Business Sentiment Edges Higher
Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index inched up to 3 in January 2026 from a downwardly revised 2 in the prior month, marking the highest reading since October. However, business conditions weakened slightly (7 vs 9 in December), due to declines in both sales (10 vs 16) and profits (8 vs 11), while employment held steady for the third straight month (at 4). On the cost side, both labour and input cost pressures continued to ease, while quarterly growth in retail prices slowed further to 0.3% from 0.5% in December. According to NAB economist Michael Hayes, “Measures of cost and price growth in the survey fell to new post-pandemic lows.” He added that “overall, the January survey showed the economy has retained most of its momentum gained through the past year and the level of activity remains high,” even as capacity utilisation has eased somewhat in recent months. The survey was conducted before the RBA raised rates by 25bp to 3.85% last week, the first hike in two years.
2026-02-10
Australia Business Sentiment Inches Higher
Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index edged up to 3 in December 2025 from an upwardly revised 2 in the previous month. Meanwhile, business conditions strengthened (9 vs 7 in November), driven by gains in both sales (16 vs 13) and profits (11 vs 4) while employment held steady (at 4). Price measures ticked higher in the three months to December, though capacity utilisation eased only slightly to a still elevated 83.2%. “The survey is consistent with the view that momentum improved in the Australian economy in the fourth quarter,” said NAB Chief Economist Sally Auld, noting that elevated utilisation was broad-based. Tuesday’s figure preceded December inflation data, after November eased to 3.4%, a three-month low but still above the central bank's 2–3% target. Meantime, the Reserve Bank is set to begin its first policy meeting of the year next week, having maintained the cash rate at 3.6% for the third month in a row in December.
2026-01-27
Australia Business Sentiment Falls to 7-Month Low
Australia’s NAB Business Confidence Index slipped to 1 in November 2025 from 6 in the previous month, marking the weakest reading since April. At the same time, business conditions softened (7 vs 10 in October), retreating from their highest level since March 2024, as declines in sales (12 vs 18) and profitability (4 vs 9) offset relatively stable employment (4 vs 3). Despite softer sentiment, capacity utilisation edged higher to 83.6%, the strongest in 18 months, suggesting firms continue operating near full capacity. Price indicators also firmed, with growth in purchase costs rising at a quarterly pace of 1.3% and retail prices climbing 0.8%. “Overall, the survey continues to tell us that businesses are capacity constrained, and if economic growth accelerates further from the current starting point, we may quickly see additional pressure on prices,” said NAB Chief Economist Sally Auld.
2025-12-09