The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, July 2, 2012

Boom in business lending

From Banking Day:

Business lending is growing at the fastest pace in almost four years, monthly data released by the RBA shows.

Business credit over the three months to May 2012 increased by 10.1 per cent on an annualised basis (using seasonally adjusted measures). This is the first double digit rate of growth in business lending since the financial crisis.

A year ago business lending by banks was in decline.

Only two thirds of this growth in lending is being captured by APRA-regulated banks, however.