NZ rated highly for investment safety

New Zealand is one of the safest places in the Asia Pacific to invest, says new research from Dun & Bradstreet. File photo

New Zealand is one of the safest countries in which to invest in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to a low degree of economic uncertainty.

Dun and Bradstreet's global risk indicator (GRI) has ranked New Zealand fourth in the region - behind only Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore - and among the top 20 safest countries globally.

The GRI provides a comparative cross-border assessment of the political, commercial, economic and external risk of doing business in 131 countries.

As well as having the lowest risk rating in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia also leads the field globally.

New Zealand's neighbours across the Tasman have not had a risk rating downgrade since 2008, although Dun and Bradstreet says Australia's overall risk profile is deteriorating.

Hong Kong and Singapore are both also on a deteriorating trend.

The risk indicator report says New Zealand is better placed than its two major trading partners Japan and China.

Dun and Bradstreet New Zealand general manager John Scott said the country's GRI ranking showed conditions were improving but economic recovery was fragile.

"These rankings reflect overall optimistic conditions for Kiwi businesses," Mr Scott said.

"However increasing economic woes in Greece, Spain and other western European nations mean that a deterioration in New Zealand should not be completely ruled out."

Scott said if volatile conditions in the Euro-zone continued there was potential for a detrimental impact on the local economy.

However risk exposure was low with only 14 per cent of New Zealand's goods exported to the European Union annually.