consumer confidence survey<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe ANZ Bank’s monthly business survey shows confidence fell 26-points in March to a net 33 percent from 59 percent in February, while other indicators also plummeted.<\/p>\n
Inflation indicators also rose, with a net 60 percent of firms expecting to raise prices in the next three months – an increase of 7 points.<\/p>\n
ANZ said survey results gathered during the past week were weaker still, which did not bode well for April’s reading.<\/p>\n
The net percent of firms expecting cost increases rose to a net 85 percent from 79 percent, which was the highest rate in about three years.<\/p>\n
“It’s unsettling times for businesses,” ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said.<\/p>\n
“Just as the economic recovery was starting to feel real, dark clouds have gathered. It’s not just anxiety about the future.<\/p>\n
“Many firms are already reporting that their activity has taken a hit as people defer their decision-making in the face of uncertainty.”<\/p>\n
In terms of impacts already being experienced, overall activity fell to net 18 percent from 23 percent of firms reporting stronger activity than a year ago.<\/p>\n
The retail sector was down 20 points to 5 percent, with construction down 16 points to a negative 13 percent.<\/p>\n
She said past activity, which was the best indicator of GDP, took a hit, particularly in the late-month data.<\/p>\n
“The fall in the activity indicators as the month went on is understandable, as it has become increasingly clear that this is not a short-lived shock, but something more persistent.<\/p>\n
“Firms are understandably in a mood to reduce their risk-taking, but the unfortunate truth is that one firm’s risk (a purchase, an investment, a hire) is someone else’s opportunity.”<\/p>\n
She said the weakness was broad-based.<\/p>\n
Biggest problems<\/p>\n
Zollner said competition was still the number one problem facing businesses, while non-wage costs were also starting to grow, along with concerns about the Middle East and government policy.<\/p>\n
“By sector, retail is more concerned about the exchange rate than other sectors,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Construction is particularly concerned about competition, and turnover remains a significant worry for retail, construction and manufacturing.”<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retail is more concerned about the exchange rate than other sectors, ANZ’s chief economist says. Photo: RNZ Business…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[48,138,47,219,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-356439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-podcasts","17":"tag-public-radio","18":"tag-radio-new-zealand","19":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}