FX.co ★ New Zealand Business Confidence At Record Low On Recession Fears - ANZ

Business sentiment in New Zealand weakened to a new record low in December amid acute inflationary pressures and recession fears, survey results from ANZ showed on Tuesday.

The business sentiment index plummeted to -70 in December from -57.1 in the previous month.

The index measuring firms' expected activity fell 14 points from November to -26 in December, and investment intentions fell notably to -20.5 from -8.1, which was the lowest since around the global financial crisis.

Employment intentions remained negative in December, and the corresponding index fell to -16.3 from -4.0 in November.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand appears to have achieved stock value with a sharp increase in the OCR, hawkish forecasts, and a warning of deliberate recession in 2023, ANZ said.

Inflation and pricing pressures remained intense in December, but cost expectations moved marginally lower.

By sector, 74 percent of retail firms intend to raise their prices in the next three months, followed by services with 67 percent.? Meanwhile, agriculture had the lowest proportion, at -6.7 percent.