New Zealand Business Confidence Hits Historic High

Business confidence in New Zealand has surged to historically solid levels, according to ANZ's latest Business Outlook Survey. The survey found that the net percentage of businesses expecting improvement jumped from 36.6 in June to 56 in July, with expected own activity rising 12 points to 49 and reported past activity increasing by 1 point to 10.

Confidence levels varied across different sectors, with agriculture at 81.0, services at 48.1, retail at 67.3, and construction at 54.0. However, inflation expectations eased from 3.36% in June to 3.14% in July, while cost expectations fell from 85 to 78.

Pricing intentions dropped 4 points to a net 47% of survey respondents expecting to raise prices in the next three months. Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon noted that the ANZ survey was consistent with their view that the Middle East conflict is acting as a headwind to an economy gathering momentum.