Westpac CEO: Australians are too glum about economy

Despite booming resources sector a survey showed 47% of businesses sees weakening of Queensland economy in the next 12 months.

One of the country's top bankers says Aussies are being overly pessimistic about the economy and should focus instead on its underlying strengths.

"There's a lot of caution, I think really more than, given the underlying fundamentals in Australia, there should be,'' Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly told a business function on Thursday.

She pointed to the booming resources sector, which has Australia's terms of trade - the ratio of export prices to import prices - at near record levels, as a key strength.

Her comments came as $20 billion of investment in the LNG sector was ticked off in Queensland and the latest Commonwealth Bank survey revealed that many businesses across the state were hurting.

The survey found 47 per cent of businesses expect the Queensland economy to weaken in the next 12 months.

More businesses now expect the Australian economy to deteriorate over the coming year than those expecting conditions to remain the same or improve.

View the full story in The Australian.