New Zealand ANZ business confidence dropped to -20 in March, down from -19. That means a net 20% of businesses are pessimistic about the year ahead.
Highlights from the release:
- Headline business confidence and firms’ views of their own activity have trodden water in March, both little changed from the preceding month.
- Belying the headline measures somewhat, all key activity indicators improved further, albeit while remaining well off their cycle highs.
- Pricing indicators were broadly steady
ANZ also added:
- The economy is certainly not crawling, but it’s hardly gliding along.
- Activity indicators increased pretty much across the board but remain below the levels of six months ago.
- Our composite growth indicator, which combines business and consumer confidence, continues to suggest growth around 2-3% y/y.
- Inflation expectations and pricing intentions were little changed.
Full release here.
