Confidence in offshore market expansion for New Zealand businesses continues to grow, according to a recent survey.

Population growth has seen a healthy increase but at the lowest rate since 2000.

New Zealand spends about $6 billion annually on domestic IT requirements, industry lobby group NZICT says.

The government absorbs around 40% of that, while the corporate sector takes up the remaining 60%. NZICT chief executive Brett O’Riley said technology was one of New Zealand’s fastest growing industries. Mr O’Riley said this was reflected in the recent Deloitte Technology Fast 500 report, where 51 New Zealand companies were included.