A Sobering Drop in Business Confidence

16 December 2009

Media Release

A Sobering Drop in Business Confidence

A drop in business confidence is the sobering news from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce’s survey taken this week from almost 900 firms.

The number of firms who expect business to improve in the next three months has dropped 7 percentage points in the last quarter while those who expect business to deteriorate has doubled.

“Business decision-makers appear to have put away their wallets and are expecting a difficult three months, regardless of talk about economic recovery,” says Michael Barnett, chief executive of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Barnett also noted that many firms are expecting low activity and revenue months in December/January, but have significant cash demands from employees’ holiday pay.

“A further concern from the survey is that already firms are expecting difficulty finding the right people with the right skills – the surveys showed a doubling from 7% to 14% of employers expecting hiring problems now,” he says.

Nevertheless, the survey showed that businesses do have strong recruitment intentions and an expectation that profitability will remain flat.

The survey was undertaken electronically last week across all business sectors in the Auckland region.

ENDS

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