northland chamber

16 December 2010

Media Release

Business Negative in Northland

For the second quarter in a row the Chamber of Commerce business survey confirms confidence at levels lower than they have been for over a decade.

Only a net 1% of business respondents in Northland believe business conditions will improve over the next six months. When you take in the view of businesses in the economic zone from Taupo to Northland, excluding Auckland, this lifts to 15%.

Chamber spokesperson, Tony Collins, said that many businesses had expected to deal with a downturn over a period of about one year but that this had now turned into two years and many businesses had battened down the hatches and gone into survival mode – “expect more casualties in the new year” was their prediction.

“Many small and medium businesses were experiencing strong consumer reluctance to spend or make decisions” they said.

It also seems that while business expects to benefit from the 80,000 credit cards the Rugby World Cup will bring to NZ they also appreciate that much of the infrastructure spend has been made and that post RWC 2011 there is little on the horizon domestically so we will remain at the mercy of a better performing world economy.

A further signal from the survey was the growing indication that skilled staff were increasingly difficult to find. In Northland 17% of businesses reported difficulty finding the right people with the right skills. In the economic zone Taupo - Northland, excluding Auckland, this was 23% and Auckland recorded 18%.

A further message from respondents to the survey suggested the most limiting factor to expansion was demand followed by finance – with many observing that despite the strong profit performance from the Banking sector, getting Bank support in difficult times was not easy.

Ends

CEO Northland Chamber of Commerce