17 August 2015

Business Confidence Plummets

More than 40% of Auckland businesses surveyed by Auckland Chamber of Commerce in August believe business conditions will deteriorate in the next 6 months.

Only 15% of respondents believe business confidence will improve. This is a sharp reversal from just 3 months ago when only 13% believed business conditions would deteriorate and 37% believed business confidence would improve.

Business owners were more positive about their own businesses, where 47% were positive about business conditions for the next 6 months.

Skilled employees were still hard to find, with 30% of employers indicating that finding the right skills was a constraint to their business.

The quarterly Business Confidence Survey also showed a jump in those seeing demand as a constraint to growth, indicating caution was already being exercised. Business expectation of interest rates was for a further decline.

Other survey results:
• Fewer firms are expecting to employ full time employees
• Total hours to be worked are down
• Profitability expectations are down
• New Zealand sales are expected to be down.

ENDS