New Zealand Consumers Less Pessimistic on Economy, Poll Shows

By Gavin Evans

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand consumers are less pessimistic about the outlook for the economy amid falling interest rates and lower taxes, according to a poll.

Thirty-nine percent of 1,000 people polled last week said the economy will deteriorate in the next 12 months, according to a Colmar Brunton poll for Television New Zealand. The gauge reached 46 percent at the last poll in February, the highest since August.

New Zealand is mired in its worst recession in more than 30 years as export demand slows and home construction slumps. The economy contracted 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the most in more than 16 years.

Still, home sales in Auckland, the nation’s largest city, jumped to a 20-month high in March as declining home-loan rates and income-tax cuts spurred buyers, realtor Barfoot & Thompson said April 3. Government revenue from income taxes fell by more than NZ$1 billion ($600 million) from April 1 in the first of a three-year program of cuts.

The number of optimists in the poll climbed to 42 percent from 37 percent in February. The poll has a 3.1 percent sampling error and was conducted between March 28 and April 1. The results were e-mailed to Bloomberg News.

Separately, the poll showed support for New Zealand’s governing National Party rose to 57 percent, almost twice that of the main opposition Labour Party at 31 percent.

National Party leader John Key is preferred as prime minister by 51 percent of those polled, unchanged from the previous poll.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington at gavinevans@bloomberg.net.