Bay of Plenty's economy continues to increase in confidence with optimism sitting at more than double 12 months on.

Figures released by the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce shows business confidence amongst Northern region firms continues to improve with the last quarter showing 45 per cent of respondents believing the New Zealand business situation will improve, up from 43 per cent in the previous quarter and more than double the net confidence for this time last year.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Max Mason says economy optimism is on the rise.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Max Mason says the recent survey reflects what most business owners have been saying.

'There are still challenges – like demand in some sectors, obtaining finance and finding the right employees, but things are improving.

'Business owners are increasingly positive about the New Zealand economy and also their own businesses.”

Max says the survey findings still reflect difficulties for businesses in finding the right staff – 27 per cent indicating difficulty in finding the right people with the right skills.

He says there is optimism in a number of sectors including the construction section which he says is doing well.

'The Christchurch rebuild is creating a lot of extra work for planners and consultants and that's happening within a number of consultancy firms.”

The Christchurch rebuild is producing $40billion dollars' worth of spin offs, including specialised manufacturing.

'Anything that is going to lead to an increase in productivity and reduction in costs is going to be optimistic and do well.”

Max says while some things are looking positive, there are still challenges.

'It's pretty hard to recruit really good IT people now as there is a lot of competition between the IT providers. '

He says despite this, optimism is steadily increasing and is at more than double last year's 20 per cent mark.

'It's still not across the board optimism because some sectors are being affected by change though.”