The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA has released its third Regional Pulse report, which shows that more than 60 per cent of businesses in the regions of Western Australia are predicting stronger conditions over the next 12 months.

The Regional Pulse drills down into the results of the CCIWA Business Confidence Survey to analyse business sentiment in WA’s regions, with the December quarter results confirming a bullish attitude in the Perth metropolitan area extends into some parts of the regions.

Taking a three month (short term) view, businesses in the Goldfields-Esperance region are most optimistic, with the vast majority (83%) tipping conditions to improve. An attitude likely driven by expectations that conditions in the gold sector will remain strong leading into the New Year.

Their counterparts in the Kimberley were the least optimistic in the short term, reflecting the onset of the wet season and the difficulty attracting skilled and seasonal workers. Concerns over worker shortages were not restricted to the State’s North, with one in four regional businesses nominating the issue as the biggest drag on growth, compared with 32 per cent of businesses located in Perth and Peel.

The possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 in WA also continues to weigh on the minds of regional businesses, with 20 per cent calling it out as the largest hurdle to growing their business in 2021.

Read the full Regional Pulse report here.