The newspaper quotes the bank's chief economist saying cracks are appearing in the domestic outlook with the prospect of drought and power shortages looming.
Agriculture was the most pessimistic of all industry sectors with figures for those expecting worse times climbing from 46 per cent last month to 71 per cent in this month's survey. Confidence levels are reported to be at their lowest for 15 years.
The bank's economists believe that the reason for the increased gloom is that the lack of rain during recent spells of dry weather as autumn approaches could become a drought.
The NZ dollar has also appreciated in value by 30 per cent over the past 12 months which is likely to affect export returns to farmers and growers.
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