Business confidence in New Zealand is starting to rise again according to the results of two separate surveys carried out in Auckland and Wellington.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce polled 800 business respondents in Auckland.

The Dominion Post reported a survey of 301 small businesses in Wellington carried out by Sherwin, Chan and Walshe Research.

The Auckland survey asked businesses to look ahead at conditions for the next six months and found that business confidence has improved for the third quarter in a row.

The main survey findings were:

• 41% of firms believe conditions for their own individual business will improve over the next six months, compared to 40% in March 06 and 35% in December.
• 18% believe their situation will get worse, down from 21% and 25% in the previous two surveys.
• 37% of firms believe it will continue to be harder to employ the right people with the right skills, compared to 42% last December and 54% a year ago.

Chamber Chief Executive Michael Barnett said, “This is good news and contrasts sharply with the negative talk that is persisting in certain quarters. The evidence shows that an increasing number of businesses have decided to ‘put negativity to one side’ and are taking their own decisions to move forward.”

Coupled with the news last week showing economic growth holding at above 2% the Chamber suggests that businesses should be confident about the future.