Official data furnished by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) showed that the country's business credit experienced an annualised expansion rate of 1.2 percent over the quarter to May, which economists said is its first positive movement since the global financial crisis.

Westpac senior economist Andrew Hanlan said that the improvement in business credit, the first seen since November 2008, would be likely sustained through the end of the year though he noted that while business credit supplied by financial intermediaries increased by 0.4 percent in May, it was down on the same month from a year earlier.

Economic experts said that the provision of total credit surprisingly picked up pace in May amid the relaxing of tight financing conditions for small and medium-sized businesses as the RBA issued confirmations on Wednesday that total credit pushed by financial intermediaries to the private sector jumped by 0.5 percent after an increase of 0.3 percent was seen in April.

The RBA figures also showed that the total private sector finance from over the year to May went up by 2.7 percent as Mr Hanlan observed that the business sector is the main fuel of the cycle in overall credit.

He noted that business credit may have suffered a big slump of 8.3 percent over the year to November but with strengthening balance sheet, increasing profits and an encouraging uptrend outlook in investment "business credit is likely to improve in 2010, although global uncertainty poses a downside risk."

For her part, Helen Kevans of JP Morgan was surprised that a surge in business credit happened when she was anticipating a bump in the month though she offered that the increase could be attributed to "an easing in credit conditions to small to medium-sized businesses, or even an increase in demand from larger firms that have been discouraged from accessing global capital markets in light of recent volatility."

Meanwhile, the RBA said that the housing credit saw a 0.7 percent spike in May and further increased by a seasonally adjusted 8.6 percent over the year, which it said was caused by lending growth extended to both owner-occupiers and investors.

The central bank also noted that personal credit declined by 0.5 percent in the same month though it actually increased by 3.1 percent over the year.