Finance Minister Michael Cullen today welcomed the latest National Bank outlook showing a strong rebound in general business confidence - from negative 18 percent last month to negative 2 percent.

"Even more encouraging is that a net 28.2 percent of respondents expect their own businesses to grow over the next 12 months. That should be good for both investment and employment decisions," Dr Cullen said.

He said the survey results were in line with the recent One News/Colmar Brunton poll and augured well for 2002.

"The bounce back should be sustained by growing expectations of a recovery in the United States economy and - domestically - by low interest rates and by the government's continuing strong fiscal position as reflected in the December Economic and Fiscal Update released yesterday."

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>