Deloitte says the South Island economy will continue to remain relatively insulated to the tepid national and international recovery.
The accountancy firm's South Island Index quarterly report found that growth for listed companies in the South Island slowed for the June quarter to 0.6%.
That was a significant drop from the first quarter which saw a gain of 7.1%.
A corporate finance partner at Deloitte's Christchurch office, Paul Munro, says the primary sector outside of Christchurch is in good shape and has performed reasonably well in the last few years while the rest of the world has been having a few challenges.
He says confidence is returning in the South and it's not just from the potential economic growth from the Canterbury rebuild.
Mr Munro says there are other large projects in the pipeline, such as the $400 million central plains water project which proposes to irrigate 60,000 hectares of the Canterbury plains.
He says that project now has consent and the planning is well advanced to make it happen.
Mr Munro says that type of project is critical to the economic growth of the primary sector.
