Talk Money: September 22, 2015

  • 22/09/2015
(Paul Henry)
(Paul Henry)

Consumer confidence has fallen to a three-year low in New Zealand.

The latest Westpac McDermott Miller confidence survey has found that people are increasingly concerned about falling dairy prices. There are also growing numbers of people who think the Government's economic policy is ineffective.

The survey's confidence index fell to 106 in the September quarter, its lowest level since September 2012. Anything above 100 indicates that optimists still outweigh pessimists. But the figure is below the survey's long-term average.

When people were asked about the short-term prospects for the economy there were more pessimists than optimists. A net 15 percent now expect mainly bad economic times for the year ahead, compared to a net 4.8 percent who expected good economic times three months ago.

This could spell trouble for retailers as people cut back plans to make big purchases.

Watch the video for the full Talk Money segment.