New Zealand’s economists have spent much of 2026 telling business owners the worst is behind them. The liquidators are telling a different story. As at the end of September, creditors had filed 1,072 winding-up applications and there had been 2,411 corporate insolvency appointments, a pace that puts this year on course for the highest annual total since the global financial crisis.
Both things are true at once. The recovery is real, and it is late. For owners, suppliers and lenders, the question is no longer whether conditions improve, but whether a given balance sheet survives long enough to see it.
Confidence surveys don’t pay the bills
In April 2026, business confidence sat at a 12-year high, and Xero…