Business confidence plunges

The latest Auckland Chamber of Commerce quarterly business opinion survey points to a sharp deterioration in business sentiment.

Of 1000 businesses surveyed, 64 per cent said they expected the general business situation would get worse in the next six months.

This is an 80 per cent increase on those who thought so in December, and three times as many as who were pessimistic a year ago.

The number of business owners expecting the performance of their own business to deteriorate nearly doubled between December (17 per cent) and this month (31 per cent).

Just 11 per cent thought times were going to get tougher at the same time last year.

Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett said it was the sharpest drop in confidence he had seen in the past five years.