Weekly Digest – 31 July 2024

Welcome to our Weekly Digest – stay in the know with recent news updates relevant to business and the economy.

Hints on state of economy as cost relief kicks in

Experts will scour the first trickle of financial data for early clues on the state of Australia’s economy since tax relief kicked in. The purchasing managers’ indexes for the manufacturing and services sectors land this week, as pay packets rise on cost-of-living tax breaks.

Warning rate rise would pull the rug out from the economy

While the rest of the world contemplates rate cuts, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s earlier dovishness affords it no such luxury. An important few weeks for the Australian economy begin with June quarter inflation data on Wednesday. Analysts say there is more chance of a rate rise than a cut at the RBA’s next meeting in August, though most think it likely to remain unchanged.

Tax Time Toolkit

The ATO has released their 2024 Tax Time Toolkit for small and medium businesses. The toolkit includes tax information, calculators, benchmarks and more.

Deloitte warns of ‘fork in the road’ moment for the Australian economy

With the Reserve Bank continuing to stare down less-than-perfect inflation numbers against a backdrop of weak growth, the handful of weeks from late July until early September 2024 represents a fork in the road for the Australian economy and economic policymakers, according to Deloitte.

Counting the cost: Economists weigh in on the major IT outage’s impact on Australia

The financial costs of the global tech outage that impacted Australian banks, supermarkets, airports and many other businesses are expected to be tallied by economists over the coming days.

New financial reporting and audit obligations for superannuation funds commence

On 1 July 2023, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 4) Act 2023 came into force, extending the financial reporting and auditing obligations under Chapter 2M of the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) to most registrable superannuation entities (funds). Superannuation trustees are now required to lodge audited financial reports for each fund within three months of the end of the fund’s financial year with fees incurred for late lodgement. For most funds, the deadline will be 30 September 2024.

Australian SMEs doing it tougher than bigger firms as conditions remain below average

Australia’s small and medium-sized businesses are still doing it tougher than their larger counterparts as conditions remain below the long-run average. That’s according to National Australia Bank’s latest quarterly SME survey.

Assessing potential output and the output gap in Australia

The output gap – the difference between actual output and potential output – is an important consideration for monetary policy as it is a measure of the extent of spare capacity in the economy. This article explains how RBA staff form an assessment of potential output and the output gap.

US becomes largest Australian beef export market as American production falls

According to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), the United States was the top export destination for Australian beef in the first three months of 2024.

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