Otago households have the highest level of regional economic confidence in the country by a considerable margin.
The Westpac McDermott Miller regional economic confidence index, released this morning, showed a net 52% of Otago households expected the region's economy to improve in the coming year.
This is a 20% jump on the September quarter and makes the region the most optimistic in the country.
Southland suffered a significant fall, down 20 points in the three months ended December to be on only 24%.
The next highest to Otago was Wellington on net 33%.
Economic confidence rose in six regions in the December quarter but down in five regions.
In many cases, the drop was substantial.
Households in Auckland were the most negative about their region's economic prospects.
