While New Zealand's business confidence has gone up since last year, a new international survey shows Tuesday it has slipped on the global scale.

The latest Grant Thornton International Business Survey shows New Zealand has fallen from 19th to 22nd out of 32 countries, for business confidence.

Grant Thornton International is an accounting and consulting member firm providing assurance, tax and specialist advice to independent businesses.

It shows that Asian business owners continue to be the most confident in the world, with India, the Philippines, China and Singapore taking the top four positions in the survey.

Grant Thornton New Zealand spokesman Peter Sherwin said that last year New Zealand's results reflected a downhill run in both business and consumer confidence at that time.

"This time around, the survey is pretty much in line with the gains in particular in business confidence as the worries of a pending economic slump have effectively dissipated over the intervening period," said Sherwin.

"As it turns out, much of the rest of the world is seeing things in a better light too. But that can only be good for international business, and especially for New Zealand exporters, hopefully offsetting some of the worries they have over the effects of the rising Kiwi dollar," said Sherwin.

He said New Zealand businesses showed lower optimism than the previous year in respect of turnover and selling prices. They had higher expectations on exports, employment, profitability, and investment in new buildings, plant and machinery.

Source: Xinhua