New Zealand: Business confidence improves in September
The ANZ bank business outlook indicator improved in September. As a consequence, a net 6.8% of firms reported that they expect general business conditions to worsen in the year ahead, improving from a net 14.2% of firms expecting bleaker general business conditions in the year ahead in August. As a result, the headline reading remained entrenched below the net-0% threshold that separates optimism from pessimism among businesses.
Business turned less pessimistic with regards to ease of credit expectations and their inflation expectations eased slightly. However, export and investment intentions worsened.
Meanwhile, firms’ outlooks regarding their own activity—a metric which has a stronger correlation to GDP growth—declined to a net 18.2% in September from a net 19.2% in August.