Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / 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 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So ASB, they're challenging the old idea that business grinds
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to a halt before an election. So new analysis from
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the bank shows that on the contrary, business and household
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: spending activity actually tends to be more resilient in the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: lead up to a general election. But their data shows
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: business confidence takes a big dip. So I'm joined now
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: by Leanne Watson. Now, Leanne is the CEO of Business Canterbury. Hello, Leanne. Hi, Andrew.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: So what's this about? The tills are ringing, but the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: businesses are not confident.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, we know that election years do create, I guess,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: a degree of uncertainty for businesses and households. But it
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: is interesting to see those results. What we are certainly
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: hearing and seeing in Canterbury is that businesses are looking through,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I guess, that short-term uncertainty to the longer-term opportunities ahead. And,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: you know, business confidence has lifted. We talked last week
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: actually about the NZIER survey. And so I guess those
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: investment intentions and hiring intentions remain pretty positive, which is
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: great because the last thing we need right now is
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the country to go into some sort of hibernation mode.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, remember in the old days when it was a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: command economy and then the government said something and then
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: we all went out and bought whatever they discounted. It
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: was quite surprising. But you have to say, if there's
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: an election on, do you think, consumers are holding off
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: because they believe that things might change after the election
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and they might get a better deal?
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Look, I think there is certainly businesses and individuals will
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: be not racing out potentially and making brand new big
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: investment decisions sort of within a couple of months of
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: the election. But if businesses have got plans to hire
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: more staff or invest in new plant and equipment, certainly
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: our survey shows that those intentions haven't changed. and that
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: they are proceeding with them based on the longer-term future,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: which is a really positive indication.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So in this period of time, when it turns out
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: that household spending is actually resilient, are businesses doing enough
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to woo customers who might actually want a bit of
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a distraction from the politics? Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: I think there is a role there to play. Businesses
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: do need to make sure that they are being really
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: creative about how to attract customers, and that hasn't changed, actually,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: over the last few years. We know that consumer patterns
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: have changed, you know, you need to do more than
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: just open your doors and hope that they will come. And,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: you know, we do see some really creative businesses, you know,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: who can attract, you know, good customer bases and retain customers.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: But you're right, they do need to be creative.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Good stuff, Leanne Watson. Keep on doing your business. The
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Business Canterbury CEO.