New Zealand economic confidence to two-year low: survey

Confidence in the economy fell to a two-year low following New Zealand South Island's Christchurch earthquake in February, as measured in a monthly Bank of New Zealand survey.

A net 20 percent of the 456 respondents to the survey indicated they expected the economy to get worse in the coming year, BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said on Monday.

That is a turnaround from early February, when a net 22 percent expected it to improve.

Tony Alexander said most of the drop is due to the earthquake, and the uncertainty it has created for firms and households.

About 68 of 349 submitted comments had mentioned the earthquake, and some were in terms of higher business activity due to the refugee effect, or immediate recovery and emergency reconstruction effect.

Despite the dour tone, sentiment was positive regarding current business conditions in forestry, information technology, recruitment and farming.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)