Based on the ANZ-Roy Morgan survey, the consumer confidence of Australia increased more than four-year high during the first week of the year. While the majority of Australians are enjoying the holidays, the question arises whether or not the surge was actually influenced by the positive confidence levels or the advancement was only temporary. As a matter of fact, upon the publication of the initial report for 2015, the ANZ mentioned last week that confidence levels suddenly rose after the Christmas-New Year period. This could also probably driven by the fact that Australians are certain about their respective finances as well as to the current condition of the economy. According to the poll held last week, the confidence levels had a strong boost again. David Plank, ANZ Bank Head of Australian Economics, mentioned that the positive development in the previous week showed a better sentiment in connection with the present financial and economic status, along with the projections for household expenditures. This helped negate small declines in the sentiment of finances during the year ahead, while the economy in the next five years is predicted to fall by 0.2% and 0.5% respectively, with partial reversal of strong profits according to report last week. As the current finances subindex picked up, the final component in the survey also showed some optimism on its forecast for consumption with an increase of 3.4 percent.
