sydneyaustralias economy continues to shake off the worst effects of the pandemic but soaring prices of raw materials is now driving inflation up at a record pace crunching business confidence the sp global flash australia composite output index rose from 566 in february to 571 in march marking the second consecutive monthly rise and the fastest pace of expansion since may 2021 demand continued to expand across the economy in march leading to increased employment but supply constraints are resulting in the fastest rates of price growth on record for private sector firms sp added firms reported rising input and output prices due to higher fuel and wages costs raw material prices are also soaring with recent floods in eastern australia and the impact of the ukraine war having a big impact it said business confidence has fallen to the lowest rate since april 2020 sp said