A monthly BNZ survey of business sentiment has found a significant improvement after last week's record cut in the Official Cash Rate by the Reserve Bank.

"It would appear that the interest rate cut announced by the Reserve Bank last Thursday morning is having a positive impact on business sentiment," BNZ economist Tony Alexander said.

"Our monthly survey has revealed a net 6% of respondents expect the economy to get worse over the coming year. This is an improvement from a net 40% pessimistic last month and the best result since the unusually strong net 27% confident in September," Alexander said.

"However, while by the standards of survey results for the past three years the outcome looks good, there are still some solid negative hits to the NZ economy to come from offshore including in tourism and more recently farming - where dry conditions are becoming a major source of concern."

There were 479 respondents for the monthly email survey to more than 13,000 non-BNZ addresses.