New Zealand business confidence turns positive first time since August 2017: survey

[WELLINGTON] New Zealand business sentiment jumped to multi-year highs in December, turning positive for the first time since August 2017, an ANZ Bank survey showed on Friday.

The survey's headline measure showed a net 9.4 per cent of respondents expected the economy to improve over the year ahead.

It compared with net 6.9 per cent pessimism in the previous poll in November.

A net 21.7 per cent of respondents expected their own businesses to grow in the next 12 months, the highest level since March 2018, compared with 9.1 per cent last month.

REUTERS