How confident are businesses and households?
Confidence since 2000
Index, 100 = each series' long-run average. Above 100, more people are optimistic than usual.
Against other countries
Business confidence, September 2026
Consumer confidence, September 2026
A country that hasn't reported that month shows its latest figure.
What manufacturers say
| Question | Sep 2026 quarter | Quarter before | Average since 1990 | Since 1990 |
|---|
Net balance: the % of firms reporting a rise less the % reporting a fall. Capacity utilisation is the % of capacity in use.
Do the surveys track the official figures?
About these numbers
Business and consumer confidence are the OECD's monthly confidence indicators, built from each country's own surveys and rescaled so 100 is the long-run average. For New Zealand they come from NZIER's Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion and the Westpac McDermott Miller consumer survey.
What manufacturers say is NZIER's survey as the OECD republishes it, covering manufacturing only. Answers are not seasonally adjusted.
Do the surveys track? Each pair is shown on its own scale. The correlation (r) runs from −1 to 1; near 1 means the two move together. Expected selling prices are compared with prices actually charged a quarter later.
Sources: OECD main economic indicators (to September 2026); Stats NZ GDP, business price indexes and electronic card transactions.