Barry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBarry Maggie: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 20 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12572. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]2.MAGGIE BARRY (National—North Shore)to theMinister of Finance: What recent reports has he received confirming a further improvement in business and consumer confidence in New Zealand?Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance):It is reasonably clear now that consumer confidence and business confidence are becoming stronger. The BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Manufacturing Index increased 4.3 points to a seasonally adjusted 59.5. This is the highest July reading since 2002. This is clearly an indication of the kind of thing the Opposition calls a crisis in manufacturing where it isexpanding faster than it has in the last 10 years. Consumer confidence also rose over the last couple of months.Maggie Barry: How is the improvement in consumer and business confidence being reflected in other economic indicators such as job advertising and retail spending?Hon BILL ENGLISH: I think it is important to remember that businesses and households remain cautious overall about their spending and investment decisions and any one of these indicators can fluctuate from month to month reflecting that caution. However there are signs of improvement on the back of a gradually improving economic outlook. Job advertising across newspaper and internet increased by 3.5 percent seasonally adjusted in July and theANZ Job Adsindex is now 4.5 percent higher than a year ago. Of course this is not yet happening fast enough because there are still too many people without jobs. That is why the Government intends to persevere with its Business Growth Agenda to assist businesses to make the decisions that will allow them to invest and employ.Maggie Barry: What were some of the contributors to the overall improvement in the BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Manufacturing Index in July and how was this interpreted by analysts?Hon BILL ENGLISH: The improvement was reasonably broad-based across the whole manufacturing sector. Food and beverages had a reading in the manufacturing index of 69.6 which is very high. Petroleum coal chemical and associated product manufacturing was 65.8. Machinery and equipment was also strong. BNZ economists confirmed that they had maintained a positive outlook for the domestic manufacturing sector for some time linked to an upswing in construction and broader domestic demand improvement. So this is simply further evidence that a recovery is under way. It is still gradual and still not yet leading to a sufficient decrease in unemployment but the signs are promising.Maggie Barry: How does the state of New Zealand manufacturing compare with the manufacturing sectors of other countries?Hon BILL ENGLISH: It depends on whom you listen to. If you listen to Labour and the Greens they say New Zealand manufacturing is in a crisis. However if you look at the facts according to the manufacturing indexes New Zealand has one of the highest readings in the world. The New Zealand performance of manufacturing index is 59.2. A reading above 50 means expansion. In Australia the performance of manufacturing index is only 42 which corresponds to a slower growth outlook in Australia and a higher exchange rate. China’s performance of manufacturing index is just above 50 as is Japan and the eurozone. In the UK and the US it is 54 and 55 which is positive but not growing as fast as New Zealand manufacturing. If this is a definition of a crisis then we would be pleased to have more of them.