Mr Mangan, Victorian regional executive for ANZ Commercial and Agribusiness, is responsible for managing the bank’s business in Bendigo, Shepparton, Ballarat and the Echuca-Moama region.
He was speaking at the annual general meeting of the Committee for Echuca Moama, providing an economic update for the region and an insight into what business could expect in the ensuing 12 months.
“There has been a significant drop in service-based dollar spending,” Mr Mangan said.
“I think that will change and what people have held back on services (travel, accommodation, entertainment, dining) will have a significant increase.
“There was a great unknown in the initial stages of the pandemic, so people were not spending on discretionary things like holidays, weekends away, entertainment and other service-based industries.
“Stimulus has worked, there are enhanced savings rates everywhere and all indications are spending will increase in the areas of travel and tourism.”
Mr Mangan identified Echuca-Moama as one of the regions that would benefit from what he described as “a significant increase in deposits” during the pandemic.
“Where tourism forms a large part of the community I expect there to be an increase in spending of discretionary dollars,” he said.
“In recent times it has been more about spending money on goods, I think it will now turn to services.”
Mr Mangan is in charge of the second largest of 11 regions, behind the state of Tasmania, for ANZ in the south-east corner of Australia.
He said the area was fortunate because it had enjoyed a great agriculture cycle and, apart from the labour struggle, he was “very bullish” about the coming months.
“Agriculture underpins the community’s vibrancy and despite a sharp decline in under-employment there has been a shift by business to address issues that the pandemic has brought with it,” he said.
Mr Mangan said a surge in Australian manufacturing and shift to shorten supply chains had ensured the nation had “kept pace” during a challenging period.
He spends about 40 per cent of his time in the Loddon, Campaspe and Goulburn-Murray regions.
He said, on a housing front, the pandemic had proved that residing regionally was continuing to become an attractive option.
“Affordability has always been an issue, but forecasting suggests there will be a six per cent decline in house prices in 2023,” he said.
“That does need to be balanced by explaining the last few years has seen a 30 per cent increase.
“Consumer confidence is strong and real wages are going backwards because of inflation, but on a positive there is significant capital expenditure in Australia.
“That is creating infrastructure that this region can benefit from long-term.”
Mr Mangan is no newcomer to groups such as C4EM, speaking at events staged by similar organisations in Bendigo, Shepparton and Ballarat.
More from the Committee for Echuca Moama annual general meeting is on Page 5 today.
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