New Zealand: Business sentiment rises again in December
The ANZ bank business outlook indicator rose in December. A net 33.2% of firms reported that they expect general business conditions to improve in the year ahead, improving from a net 30.8% of firms expecting better general business conditions in the year ahead in November. As a result, the headline moved further above the net-0% threshold that separates optimism from pessimism among businesses.
Businesses grew more upbeat with regards to profit expectations and capacity utilization. Moreover, export intentions improved.
Meanwhile, firms’ outlooks regarding their own activity—a metric which has a stronger correlation to GDP growth—jumped to a net 29.3% in December from a net 26.3% in November.
Commenting on the release, Sharon Zollner, chief economist at ANZ, stated:
“The New Zealand economy has certainly been through a very rough patch, as amply demonstrated by the much lower Q3 GDP outturn than expected, and significant downward revisions to past GDP as well. However, the ANZ Business Outlook survey suggests the outlook is improving – and the backward-looking questions suggest that experienced activity may also be past the worst.”