Business confidence showing signs of life

Business confidence is recovering somewhat, according to the August survey by The National Bank. Their composite growth indicator is still showing negative momentum for the economy, despite the sense of mild optimism in the firms' own activity expectations, they said. There are a number of factors keeping businesses wary about their prospects, including: the global economy, particularly the US, falling house prices, and the number of finance company moratoriums. Yet, they say, the message from this survey is "mildly encouraging". "Slowly but surely a base is being formed, from which the economy will recover from."