The economy – mostly sunny despite cloudy periods

31 March 2016

The economy – mostly sunny despite cloudy periods

The economic outlook for New Zealand is stronger than for many other countries, according to the BusinessNZ Planning Forecast.

BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says the economy is showing significant resilience, despite some risks.

“Continued declines in milk prices are concerning for the dairy industry but other primary sector activity is holding up well, along with manufacturing, tourism construction and the services sector.

“Relatively strong and transparent fiscal, monetary and regulatory policy frameworks are providing a degree of confidence for investment in New Zealand business,” Mr Hope said.

Mr Hope said business confidence was supported by a range of factors including the lower dollar, benign inflationary expectations, historically low interest rates, a still buoyant housing market, record migration inflows and continued employment growth.

The BusinessNZ Planning Forecast incorporates BusinessNZ’s Economic Conditions Index (ECI) which tracks 33 economic indicators including GDP, export volumes, commodity prices, inflation, debt and business and consumer confidence.

The BusinessNZ Planning Forecast for the March 2016 quarter sits at 11, down 8 on the previous quarter and up 7 on a year ago.

The BusinessNZ Planning Forecast for the March 2016 quarter is here on www.businessnz.org.nz

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