TCCI CEO Michael Bailey will be available for comment at 11am in Civic Square, Launceston
MEDIA RELEASE
Sunday, 6 October 2024
Tasmanian businesses increasingly concerned about costs, survey shows
The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the voice of business in Tasmania and is today releasing the results of its latest Tasmanian Survey of Business Expectations.
TCCI CEO, Michael Bailey, said the survey shows that the rising cost of doing business is hurting Tasmanian businesses.
“Once again, the cost of doing business is the number one concern of our members, particularly insurance and staffing costs,” Mr Bailey said.
“Businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water with mounting costs. We can’t just keep pushing more and more costs onto our businesses and expect them to cope or be able to pass it on to customers.
“The cost-of-living crisis is not just hitting households, businesses are dealing with increasing prices too.
“Most concerningly, 80 percent of Tasmanian businesses expected the cost of doing business to get either slightly worse or significantly worse over the next 12 months. This paints a pretty bleak picture of the realities of doing business in the current climate.
“In the first quarter of 2024, 52 percent of businesses said they thought the Tasmanian economy would be weaker over the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months. While in the second quarter of 2024, that has risen to 55 percent of businesses expecting a weaker economy. That is well over half of the business community, an alarming figure.
“The number of businesses expecting the Tasmanian economy to be stronger rose from 13 percent to 16 per cent this quarter.”
The main concerns were: insurance costs (76%); employee costs (66%); energy costs (57%); transport costs (39%); and state taxes (27%).
Most businesses (44%) were paying insurance premiums of between $10,000 and $50,000, with 10 percent paying more than $250,000 per year for insurance.
Of those surveyed, 35 per cent of businesses said that removing the state government duty on insurance (which is a tax the Tasmanian Government collects on certain insurance policies) would have a significant impact on their business.
A copy of the survey results is attached.