The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released their latest report on small business optimism, and things are looking up for Manitoba.

According to the report, their Business Barometer index showed our province jumped 4.7 points to 60.1. That's higher than the national average of 57.8.

Jonathan Alward is the CFIB's Director of Provincial Affairs for Manitoba and says it's a good start.

"I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic going forward," says Alward. "If we look at the last month, we had a really big jump and now [we are] ahead of the national average. Although it's still well below the numbers where an economy would be operating at, or near its potential."

He says they'd like to see the index number closer to 65 or 70.

Regarding the jump in July, he believes there are a few factors. One has to be the province's decision to move the provincial sales tax back to seven per cent.

"I'm really interested with the timing of all this, because we've heard from members over the last few months, looking at the PST cut that the government kicked in effective July 1st of this year," says Alward. "We knew it was going to have a positive impact. It's going to put nearly 325-million dollars annually back into the pockets of Manitobans that they can go out and spend in their local economy."

He says that's not the only factor to have an impact on the optimism rebound.

"If you look at hiring intentions, they have been on the rebound for the summer, to what you would hope for," says Alward. "Right now, short-term hiring over the next three months, 17 per cent of businesses are looking to add, and just 9 per cent are looking to lay off. When you start looking at all these measures, together, it paints, hopefully, a better picture for Manitoba's small business climate going forward."