Going by the most recent business outlook report forwarded by the National Bank of New Zealand (NBNZ) on Wednesday, business confidence witnessed a plunge in March, after having risen to the highest-since-1999 level in February.

As per the NBNZ report, business confidence across all sectors, except retailing, fell for the month of March; overturning the February trend where retailing dipped, and confidence across the remaining sectors showed an increase.

In addition, the NBNZ survey - which pertains to 1,500 businesses across the country - also revealed that, despite the month-on-month fall, business confidence retained its optimistic tone. Survey statistics show that
43 percent of firms participating in the poll are hopeful of seeing better times in the year ahead.

The report said: "This continues to represent a high level of confidence in terms of what matters for this economy, namely what's actually happening at the business level as opposed to the general climate, with the latter easily influenced by various anomalies from month to month."

Moreover, during the forthcoming 12-month period, a net 19 percent of the businesses are hoping to achieve higher profits; and a net 9 percent of them are likely to hire more staff during the year.