Business conditions, as reported in surveys, are at the highest level in almost 10 years. There are also growing signs that private investment outside the resources sector is picking up. We have been waiting for this for some time. For a number of years, animal spirits had been missing, with many firms preferring to put off making decisions about capital spending.
The ratio of liquid assets to total deposits increased to 73.9 percent as at March 2012 compared to 73.2 percent in December 2011. Total loans to total deposits decreased to 46.9 percent at end-March 2012 from 48.3 percent in December 2011.