By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand’s business confidence in the third quarter worsened as inflation pressures ticked up, a private think tank said on Tuesday.

A net 18% of firms surveyed expected general business conditions to improve compared with 22% optimism in the previous quarter, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research’s (NZIER) quarterly survey of business opinion showed.

Christina Leung, principal economist at NZIER, told a press conference that even though businesses are expecting better times for both their own businesses and the broader economy, they remain cautious when it comes to hiring, investment and overall cost and pricing.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, 15% expected business conditions to improve versus 26% optimism recorded in the previous per

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