Economic Insight

The CCIWA Business Confidence Survey is the longest running and most comprehensive business survey in WA. Produced quarterly it covers businesses of all sizes and sectors across the state and includes:

• Expert analysis about the short and medium-term business confidence
• Comprehensive data regarding issues such as labour costs, profitability, and capital expenditure

The first of its kind in the State, the CCIWA Consumer Confidence survey provides invaluable insights into the attitudes and sentiments of Western Australian consumers.

Analysis includes:

• Short and medium-term expectations of economic conditions provided by metropolitan and regional consumers
• The major concerns for consumers in the current economic climate – including spending habits, employment prospects and financial health

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2020

Outlook is a biannual CCIWA publication that provides expert forward-looking economic analysis. It contains:

• Analysis of the state, national and international economies
• Economic forecasts on key indicators such as inflation, the labour force and employment

Produced by our well-informed and market-conscious economics team, Outlook makes sure you stay ahead of the current and expected changes in economic conditions.

For further information, please contact [email protected]

May 2026 Report

Global economic conditions have shifted once again as conflict in the Middle East reintroduces uncertainty into energy markets, trade routes and supply chains. While initial concern focused on oil prices and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, the effects extend much further – with freight costs, fuel prices and key inputs such as fertiliser beginning to create new pressures for businesses and households. For Western Australia, these risks arrive at a time when cost pressures remain elevated and confidence is slowing. While the economy has shown resilience to recent global shocks, the path ahead is becoming increasingly complex. In an environment where geopolitical events are carrying greater economic consequences, the key question is whether these pressures prove temporary, or signal a more persistent shift in the economic outlook.

Previous Economic Outlook Reports

Western Australia’s regions are a driving force behind the state’s economy, underpinning major export industries such as resources, agriculture and tourism.

Regional Pulse highlights key findings from the CCIWA Business Confidence Survey, offering insight into the business conditions experienced across WA’s regional centres. The special edition of regional pulse includes:

• Detailed data on how businesses and consumers across the regions are dealing with rising costs and uncertain economic conditions in the wake of the Gulf Crisis
• Key economic indicators across the regions, including profitability, capital expenditure, production, labour costs, and employment.
• An overview of the main challenges regional businesses expect to face over the next 12 months.

April 2026 Report

CCIWA’s quarterly Regional Pulse survey provides an important snapshot of the conditions facing businesses across regional Western Australia as the state entered this period of uncertainty. To assess the immediate impact of the Crisis, CCIWA also undertook two snap surveys of businesses and consumers across WA. The business survey found that cost pressures have intensified sharply, with 92% of firms reporting higher fuel costs, 84% higher freight costs, 83% supplier cost increases and 54% rising energy costs.

In response, many businesses are absorbing these pressures through lower margins, reducing non-essential spending, passing costs on to customers and, in some cases, reviewing staffing levels or hours. The impacts have been particularly severe for agriculture, where fuel and fertiliser constraints have left 74% of respondents reporting significant or severe effects. Consumer confidence across WA has also fallen sharply, reaching its lowest level since CCIWA began the survey in 2009 after the Global Financial Crisis.

Produced quarterly, our inflation update provides charts and tables on consumer price trends in Perth and all the capital cities.

February 2026:

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.8%, unchanged from 3.8% in the 12 months to December 2025.
• Perth’s CPI rose 0.3% over the month, bringing inflation to 4.9% over the year
• Perth’s annual inflation is currently the highest of all capital cities, with Brisbane (4.3%) and Sydney (3.9%) in second and third place, respectively.
• What influenced CPI over the year?
  • The main contributor to Perth’s inflation was housing (13%)
  • Education (+6%), clothing and footwear (+5%), alcohol and tobacco (5%) and recreation and culture (4%) were also major contributors over the quarter.

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