Don't worry, we're all happy

New Zealand has outscored all but India in the category of optimism about profitability in an international business survey.

The survey of medium-sized businesses in 24 countries by accounting firm Grant Thornton gave New Zealand a score of 62 for optimism about profitability, 13 points behind India.

Overall, India was top across a range of categories for optimism for a second year, and New Zealand was tucked in just behind South Africa, Ireland, Australia and Canada.

In the measure of optimism about profitability, New Zealand jumped from 55 last year.

Grant Thornton's New Zealand chairman, Peter Sherwin, said this country was included in the survey of 6300 businesses for the first time last year.

India was something of a phenomenon in terms of optimism. The rise in optimism about profitability in New Zealand might be because not every company exported to markets where it was paid in US dollars.

Also, sentiment in other countries had been affected by concern about terrorism and the impact of the Sars virus on Asia.

"For the first time, our remoteness from the rest of the world is quite an asset," Sherwin said.

Outside profitability, local businesses were reasonably optimistic about employment.

They were mid-field when it came to optimism about investment in buildings and equipment.

The high New Zealand dollar had an impact in the measure of optimism for exports, with New Zealand ahead of only seven other countries in that category.