New Zealand’s Westpac Consumer Confidence fell to 96.0 through the first quarter, down from 101.3 in the three months to December 2008. Dour sentiment is to be expected considering the unemployment rate stands at a 5-year high of 4.6% and is expected to rise to a whopping 6.4% through 2009. Weak consumer spending will deepen the worst recession that the antipodean nation has seen in 30 years, with fourth-quarter GDP expected to issue the fifth consecutive decline later this week, falling -1.1%.
