Bleak winter on the cards for business

Bleak winter on the cards for business
Is this the winter of discontent for businesses? (Image: Getty)
Paul McBeth
New Zealand businesses have largely weathered the covid-19 pandemic, but the rapid pace of inflation and increasingly tight access to credit may soon sort out the viable from the vulnerable.Customer-facing businesses have been at the forefront of those sounding warnings that they need more of a lifeline to get through the omicron outbreak, which has infected more than 200,000 and forced firms to shut their doors as they struggle to find workers to serve the few customers willing to venture out.Business confidence has slumped and firms are strug...

More Economy

Willis to Breman: a 3am call would’ve been ‘totally fine’
Economy

Willis to Breman: a 3am call would’ve been ‘totally fine’

Nicola Willis made the remarks immediately after the PM's State of the Nation address.

Dileepa Fonseka 19 Jan 2026
Banks see 2025 inflation at c.3.0%
Retail

Banks see 2025 inflation at c.3.0%

Core inflation at or moving back to 1-3% range.

Andy Macdonald 19 Jan 2026
Manufacturing activity hits four-year high in December
Economy

Manufacturing activity hits four-year high in December

December's activity for New Zealand’s manufacturing sector hit a four-year high.The seasonally adjusted BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for December was 56.1 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 th...

Rebecca Howard 16 Jan 2026
EB Games demise sign of the times – analyst
Retail

EB Games demise sign of the times – analyst

All 38 EB Games stores in NZ will shut their doors by Jan 31, 2026.

Jaime Lyth 15 Jan 2026