There has been a sharp decline in business confidence as worries grow that the European financial crisis will worsen and hit the global economy, a private sector survey shows.
Sales expectations fell five points and profit expectations remained flat based on results recorded in October, the Dun & Bradstreet national business expectations survey conducted in November shows.
Dun & Bradstreet chief executive Christine Christian said fears the eurozone government debt crisis would cause a recession in Europe was increasingly an issue for Australian businesses, which to this point had felt relatively sheltered from the crisis.
"The sudden drop in business sentiment over the course of the last month, following fairly solid results in October, indicates the degree of volatility that is being felt in the marketplace," Ms Christian said.
"This is obviously being exacerbated, particularly in sectors like retail and manufacturing, by a high Australian dollar and the changing composition of the economy off the back of the mining boom."
The report said finding finance is increasingly becoming an issue for businesses.
The number of firms citing access to finance as an issue that will affect their business has nearly doubled since the middle of this year, to 14 per cent.
