New Zealand business confidence was steady in September, though firms reported brighter expectations despite a sluggish economy, an ANZ Bank survey showed Tuesday.
- A net 49.6% of respondents expected the economy to improve over the coming year, little changed from August’s 49.7%.
- Confidence in firms’ own activity rose to 43.4% from 38.7% — the highest in five months.
“It’s been a rough few years,” ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner said. “Some of that was inevitable after the extreme overheating of the COVID era, but the weakness has persisted longer than expected and the costs are mounting.”
