Strong support for new trade agreements from business

The Government’s Trade Agenda 2030 will be welcomed by the wider business community says MYOB.

The most recent MYOB Business Monitor survey of 1,007 busiess owners found that 63 percent of respondents supported pursuing more free trade agreements with international trading partners, 10 percent opposed new agreements and 27 were neutral on the issue.

“New Zealand businesses will welcome the announcement from Prime Minister Bill English that the Government intends pursing more agreements,” says MYOB General Manager Carolyn Luey.

“Our country is reliant on international trade. We need to make it as easy as possible for New Zealand businesses to do business with the world.”

The survey was carried out in the final quarter of last year. When looking at just exporters, 68 percent supported pursing more free trade while just 6 percent opposed signing more agreements.

The Government’s Trade Agenda 2030’s broad aim is to have 90 percent of New Zealand’s exports covered by free trade agreements by 2030, up from the 53 percent as it is today.

MYOB’s survey revealed that 56 percent of exporters sold goods or services to Asia, 41 percent sold to the EU, 40 percent said the US, 25 percent to the Pacific and 7 percent to the Middle East.

Strongest support for free trade comes from the finance sector (76 percent support) followed by agriculture and forestry (71 percent) and manufacturing (64 percent).

“New Zealand is a trading nation, and whether it’s agricultural-based products or home-grown tech, we depend on trading arrangements to provide access to key markets,” says Ms Luey.

“Businesses of all kinds know that the success of our economy is dependent on how effective we are at trading with the world. We wish the Government every success with achieving its 90 percent goal.”

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For further comment or other information please contact:
Conor Roberts, MYOB NZ Communications and Public Affairs Manager
M: 021 124 6004 / E: conor.roberts@myob.com

Gerard Blank, The Agency Communications Limited Director
P: 03 341 5841 / M: 0275 243 629 / E: gerard@theagencynz.co.nz

About MYOB
MYOB (ASX:MYO) is a leading cloud based business management solutions provider. It makes business life easier for approximately 1.2 million businesses across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll, tax, practice management, CRM, websites, job costing, inventory and more. MYOB provides ongoing support via many client service channels including a network of over 40,000 accountants, bookkeepers and other consultants. It is committed to ongoing innovation, particularly in cloud computing solutions, and in 2015 was awarded the BRW award for the most innovative large company for 500+ employees and placed 2nd in BRW’s Most Innovative Companies Award list across all categories nationally.  For more information, visit myob.co.nz or follow @MYOB on Twitter.

About the MYOB Business Monitor
The MYOB Business Monitor is a national survey of 1,000+ small and medium business owners and managers in both New Zealand and Australia. The survey includes businesses of all sizes, from sole traders to mid-sized companies, representing the major industry sectors. It has run since 2009, commissioned to independent market research firm Colmar Brunton. The Monitor researches business performance and attitudes in areas such as profitability, cash flow, pipeline, technology usage and the government. The weighting of respondents by both geographical location and sector is based on overall market proportions as established by Statistics New Zealand/Australian Bureau of Statistics and is drawn from an independent survey group, which includes both MYOB clients and non-clients.