NZ business now more pessimistic than in the last recession

Stuff reports:

Business confidence continues to slide, with ANZ saying the corporate sector is “in a funk”.

The ANZ business outlook for July showed a net 45 per cent of businesses were pessimistic about the general outlook for the economy, the most downbeat reading in the monthly survey since May 2008, when New Zealand was in recession and the global financial crisis was building.

The number of businesses expecting an improvement in their own activity was more positive in the survey, but has dropped to a net 4 per cent which are positive, the lowest since May 2009.

To have lower business confidence than when the economy was in recession is some achievement.

source: tradingeconomics.com

This shows the last 11 years. In four years we’ve gone from +70 to -40.