In our latest episode, we present the December Business Risk Index results and analysis. CreditorWatch Head of Content Michael Pollack and index creator James O’Donnell from Open Analytics discuss the key insights.

December trading activity was the lowest since the pandemic began due to the impacts of Omicron. Down 45 per cent on December 2020.

We expect trade activity to continue to slide over H1 2022.

WA continues to be the best performing state as a function of its economy continuing to operate throughout 2021 while many other states were in lockdown.

Queensland and Victoria are struggling to recover from a decline in the tourism trade and extended lockdowns respectively.

Newcastle was the biggest improver among metropolitan areas as its two largest industries, manufacturing and construction, continued to operate unaffected by Omicron in December.

Meanwhile Melbourne continues to decline on the Business Risk Index as the hangover from extended lockdowns remains.

Defaults, external administrations, payment arrears and court actions have dropped. This is typically the case in December so we will be keenly watching the January data for the size of the bounce.

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