NAB chief Healy says invest now, not later

Joseph Healy, the head of Australia's largest business bank, NAB, has iron sand mining machineaccused the nation's business leaders of not investing enough now to prepare the economy for the inevitable end of the mining boom.

Mr Healy, group executive of business banking, said Australia was facing a "gloomy boom" with the economy's fundamentals remaining strong, driven by the resources cycle, but weakness emerging across the rest of the nation. He told a business luncheon in Sydney that businesses were too scared to invest because of the market, political and regulatory uncertainty. Most businesses, he said, were "sitting on their hands" instead of investing to prepare for the future. "The implications for the economy of the ongoing deleveraging and the underinvestment, beyond the resources sector, could potentially be profound in years to come," Mr Healy said. "Especially after the current resources boom." Business credit demand has fallen by 12 per cent since..