13 Jul 2012

Consumer confidence has risen

7:41 am on 13 July 2012

Consumer confidence has risen, with the ANZ Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index rising 5 points to 110.5 in July compared to the previous month.

A reading over 100 indicates there are more optimists than pessimists.

ANZ economist Mark Smith says people remain cautious and are reigning in their future expectations for the New Zealand economy in the year ahead.

He says people are still optimistic when looking five years ahead, but in the short term it still looks quite difficult.

Mr Smith says the fact that more households perceive it as a good time to buy a major household item is reflective of a high New Zealand dollar and the fact the retail environment is still very tough so there is a lot of discounting.

He says the combined consumer and business confidence measure is suggesting growth of just over 2% for this year and that's probably going to be the same for next year as well.