Latest / Best of Business / Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the ASB research showing economic activity doesn't tend to slow down ahead of elections

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Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the ASB research showing economic activity doesn't tend to slow down ahead of elections · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: So ASB, they're challenging the old idea that business grinds
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  Speaker 2: to a halt before an election. So new analysis from
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  Speaker 2: the bank shows that on the contrary, business and household
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  Speaker 2: spending activity actually tends to be more resilient in the
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  Speaker 2: lead up to a general election. But their data shows
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  Speaker 2: business confidence takes a big dip. So I'm joined now
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  Speaker 2: by Leanne Watson. Now, Leanne is the CEO of Business Canterbury. Hello, Leanne.
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  Speaker 1: Hi, Andrew.
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  Speaker 2: So what's this about? You know, the tills are ringing,
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  Speaker 2: but the businesses are not confident.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, we know that election years do create, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: a degree of uncertainty for businesses and households. But it
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  Speaker 1: is interesting to see those results. What we are certainly
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  Speaker 1: hearing and seeing in Canterbury is that businesses are looking through,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, that short-term uncertainty to the longer-term opportunities ahead. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, business confidence has lifted. We talked last week
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  Speaker 1: actually about the NZIER survey. And so I guess those
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  Speaker 1: investment intentions and hiring intentions remain pretty positive, which is
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  Speaker 1: great because the last thing we need right now is
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  Speaker 1: the country to go into some sort of hibernation mode.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, remember in the old days when it was the
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  Speaker 2: command economy and then the government said something and then
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  Speaker 2: we all went out and bought whatever they discounted. It
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  Speaker 2: was quite surprising. But you have to say, if there's
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  Speaker 2: an election on, do you think, consumers are holding off
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  Speaker 2: because they believe that things might change after the election
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  Speaker 2: and they might get a better deal?
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  Speaker 1: Look, I think there is certainly, you know, businesses and
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  Speaker 1: individuals will be not racing out potentially and making, you know,
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  Speaker 1: brand new big investment decisions sort of within a couple
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  Speaker 1: of months of the election. But if businesses have got
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  Speaker 1: plans to, you know, hire more staff or invest in
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  Speaker 1: new plant and equipment, certainly our survey shows that those
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  Speaker 1: intentions haven't changed. and that they are proceeding with them
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  Speaker 1: based on the longer-term future, which is a really positive indication.
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  Speaker 2: So in this period of time, when it turns out
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  Speaker 2: that household spending is actually resilient, are businesses doing enough
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  Speaker 2: to woo customers who might actually want a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a distraction from the politics? Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: I think there is a role there to play. Businesses
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  Speaker 1: do need to make sure that they are being really
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  Speaker 1: creative about how to attract customers. And that hasn't changed, actually,
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  Speaker 1: over the last few years. We know that consumer patterns
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  Speaker 1: have changed. you know, you need to do more than
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  Speaker 1: just open your doors and hope that they will come. And,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we do see some really creative businesses, you know,
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  Speaker 1: who can attract, you know, good customer bases and retain customers.
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  Speaker 1: But you're right, they do need to be creative.
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  Speaker 2: Good stuff, Leanne Watson. Keep on doing your business. The
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  Speaker 2: Business Canterbury CEO.