NZ firms grow gloomier about economic outlook; scale back investment, hiring plans

Mon, 31 Aug 2015

By Paul McBeth Aug. 31 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand firms grew even gloomier in August as falling commodity prices and a lack of inflation looks set to keep profits down, and have scaled back their intentions to take on new staff or invest in their business. A net 29 percent of firms were pessimistic about the general economic outlook over the coming year, deteriorating from a net 15 percent in July, according to the ANZ Business Outlook. A net 12 percent of companies see their own activity expanding, down from 19 percent a month earlier,...

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