NZ firms stay upbeat in December on building boom, rural recovery

NZ firms stay upbeat in December on building boom, rural recovery
Paul McBeth
By Paul McBeth Jan. 17 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand businesses stayed relatively upbeat about the state of the economy in the final three months of 2016, as the nation's building boom continued to soak up resources and the recovery in global dairy prices lifted optimism in rural areas.  A seasonally adjusted net 26 percent of firms surveyed in the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion expect general business conditions to improve in the coming 12 months, down from 28 percent in the September per...