NZIER s QSBO shows increased construction demand driving improved sentiment – Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, January 2021 livenews.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from livenews.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kiwi rises as business confidence improves
January 19, 2021SharePrint
The New Zealand dollar has posted gains in the Tuesday session, erasing the losses seen on Monday. Currently, NZD/USD is trading at 0.7126, up 0.320 on the day.
NZ business confidence improves
There was good news from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Business Confidence Index. The report remained in negative territory in Q4 of 2020, but the reading of -6 was a marked improvement over the Q3 reading of -40 points. In fact, the latest figure was the strongest reading since Q3 of 2017. Business confidence took a beating in 2020, plunging as low as -70 in Q1 of 2020, as the government responded to the advent of the Covid-19 crisis by shutting down much of the economy. Since then, the level of pessimism in the business sector has been easing, but the Q4 release showed that confidence is on its way up. The report found that construction activity was a bright spot in the economy, and that employm
Construction sector leads rise in business sentiment - NZIER survey
19 Jan, 2021 04:37 AM
3 minutes to read
Construction is leading the rebound in business confidence. Photo / Tania Whyte
Business sentiment continued to improve in the last quarter of 2020 and more firms are feeling positive about the year ahead, according to a new survey by the NZIER. The construction sector is leading the recovery but other sectors, like retail, also look set to hire more staff in the months ahead.
The Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) found that a net 16 per cent of businesses still expect a deterioration in general economic conditions over the coming months (on a seasonally adjusted basis).
Australia and New Zealand agri-food industries highly resilient during COVID-19
12 Jan 2021 | 2 mins
Researchers from The University of Western Australia have found the agri-food systems of Australia and New Zealand were highly resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a new research paper, published in
Agricultural Systems, UWA researchers measured the immediate impact of COVID-19 on the sector.
Researchers found the impact of COVID-19 control measures (such as border closures, movement restrictions and market disruptions) on agri-food systems in Australia and New Zealand had been relatively small up to June 2020.
UWA’s Hackett Professor Kadambot Siddique, Professor David Parnell and Dr Amin Mugera collaborated with researchers from Australian institutions CSIRO Agriculture and Food, The University of Queensland and The University of Tasmania, in addition to New Zealand institutions AgResearch, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, Lincoln University, Plant and