New Zealand business sentiment fell in March as the economy struggled from the lack of tourists and the unsustainable bounce in retail spending started to dissipate, an ANZ Bank survey showed on Wednesday.
The survey's headline measure showed a net 4.1% of respondents expected the economy to deteriorate over the year ahead, versus a 7.0% optimism level in the previous poll in February.
A net 16.6% of respondents expected their own businesses to grow in the next 12 months, versus 21.3% last month.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
