7 May 2013

Traffic volume index suggests sluggish growth

3:09 pm on 7 May 2013

A survey of traffic volumes suggests the economy is still growing, but very sluggishly.

ANZ Bank's light traffic index, which uses traffic volumes to map quarterly economic growth, shows flows fell 1.4% in April, after rising 1.7% the previous month.

But the bank says the trend is still tentatively upwards.

The survey also shows heavy traffic volumes are sluggish, due to impacts from the drought.

However it says there are promising signs, although the tepid labour market and high exchange rate remain handbrakes on the economy.