Business sentiment gradually improving, headwinds remain

Business sentiment gradually improving, headwinds remain
Rebecca Howard
A net 11% of businesses expect a worsening in general economic conditions over the coming months, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest quarterly business confidence survey from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. This is a modest improvement from the net 16% of businesses which were pessimistic about the economic outlook in the previous quarter. A year ago, a net 68% were downbeat.Meanwhile, firms’ own trading activity was unchanged from the previous quarter. This measure suggests annual GDP growth will...