Business confidence easing, survey

A new survey shows business confidence easing in the past month, but remaining firmly positive.

BNZ's first confidence survey for 2010, published today, found a net 37 percent of respondents expected the economy to improve in the coming year, down from 43 percent in the last survey in December.

BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said the decline was unsurprising considering indicators were showing an easing in the housing market, jump in the unemployment rate, easing in the sharemarket, and a general setting in of reality after a huge sigh of relief boosted sentiment gauges last year.

The results of the BNZ survey suggested reasonable growth in the economy this year but reading through responses from businesses showed that across sectors many weak patches remained, along with high caution regarding cash flow and balance sheet management, Mr Alexander said. 

The recent downward trend in sentiment, in the BNZ survey and others, could continue toward the middle of the year.