The latest Business Monitor survey by MYOB shows businesses are becoming more and more pessimistic about New Zealand’s economy under Labour, says National’s Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis.

“The survey by MYOB shows one of the lowest levels of business confidence in the history of the survey, with more than two-thirds of small and medium-sized enterprises now expecting economic decline in the coming year and 60 per cent expressing dissatisfaction with Labour.

“It’s hardly surprising business confidence has shattered given the immense pressure this Government has put businesses under.

“Labour’s mismanagement of the economy and the increased costs and regulations they have imposed on businesses are all having an impact.

“The highest inflation in three decades, ongoing red traffic light restrictions, big minimum wage hikes, a new public holiday, a new jobs tax, and complex mandated union-negotiated sector-wide employment agreements – all of these things make life harder for small business owners.

“Even as we start to live with Omicron, it’s clear many businesses still don’t see light at the end of the tunnel. The MYOB survey comes less than a week after a RetailNZ survey which showed more than a third of our small businesses fear they won’t survive the year.

“Businesses don’t have an endless capacity to absorb the costs imposed by Government, despite what Labour seems to think. Most will have no choice but to claw back these extra costs through higher prices that Kiwi households will have to pay.

“New Zealand is in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in a generation and it’s set to keep spiralling. Now is the time to ease the pressure on small businesses, not ramp it up.

“Grant Robertson needs to listen to the New Zealanders who create jobs and generate the wealth in our economy, and declare a moratorium on costly new policies and regulations that could add to the cost of living crisis.”