A debate is raging over the state of New Zealand’s economy, as we head towards the election. Some say a recovery is well underway, while others claim it remains in crisis.
Both can’t be right, so let’s see what the data shows.
But first, some background.
When New Zealand emerged from the Covid lockdowns in 2020, the Reserve Bank had already reduced the Official Cash Rate to a record‑low of 0.25 percent and had started pumping more than $50 billion into the economy through a massive quantitative easing programme. That flood of liquidity on top of the Labour Government’s $70 billion of Covid-related expenditure sent domestic demand surging, fuelling a housing boom, and pushing inflation well beyond the Bank’s 1 to 3 percent target band.
But instead of responding quickly to bring inflation back under control, turning off the monetary tap and raising interest rates, the Reserve Bank mischaracterised the inflationary pressure as a supply chain disruption that would correct itself.
That error, which led to a further six months of stimulus, resulted in domestic demand boiling over. Inflation peaked at 7.3 percent in 2022, as living costs spiralled out of control.
When the Reserve Bank finally moved, it did so aggressively by deliberately engineering a recession — driving the OCR up to a peak of 5.5 percent and forecasting unemployment to rise to 5.7 percent.
In response to questions from Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee in late 2022 asking whether the Reserve Bank was deliberately engineering a recession to combat the super-charged inflation, then Governor Adrian Orr responded: “I think that is correct. We are deliberately trying to slow aggregate spending in the economy. The quicker inflation expectations come down, the less likely it is that we have a prolonged period of low or negative growth.”
As the 2023 election approached, with the OCR choking consumer spending, Labour opened the immigration floodgates. In the year to October, New Zealand recorded a net gain of almost 137,000 migrants — the highest in our history. While the influx eased the country’s crippling labour shortage and propped up headline GDP, the sheer scale of new arrivals created an immediate housing shortage that sent rents soaring and heaped further pressure on already stretched hospitals and schools.
With the surge in rental and consumer demand adding fresh inflationary pressure, the Reserve Bank was forced to keep interest rates higher for longer. The strain was then compounded as waves of fixed‑term mortgages — originally set when the OCR was at a record low of 0.25 percent — came up for refinancing at 5.5 percent. That stripped billions of dollars out of household budgets and drove the economy into the second downturn of Adrian Orr’s “double‑dip” recession.
With a new Government at the helm, domestic inflation finally started coming back under control during 2024, with on-going OCR cuts reaching a low point of 2.25 percent in November 2025.
However, as 2026 began, the Middle East crisis sent fuel prices soaring — petrol up 27 percent and diesel an extraordinary 71 percent — driving annual inflation to 4.1 percent in the year to June.
While base inflation was only 2.9 percent if the fuel price rise was stripped out – well within the Reserve Bank’s threshold – rather than waiting to see whether fuel would stabilise, the Bank pressed ahead with back-to-back increases taking the OCR to 2.5 percent in July and 2.75 percent in September.
The post-Covid recession – engineered by the Reserve Bank but fuelled by Labour’s prolonged spending – had a disastrous impact on unemployment. By locking the OCR at a highly restrictive 5.5 percent from May 2023 through to August 2024, the Bank intentionally suffocated consumer demand, forcing businesses to cut staff costs to survive. As a result, unemployment surged from its historic low of 3.2 percent up to 5.4 percent by December 2025 – exactly in line with the Bank’s projections.
Despite the Middle East crisis helping to push unemployment higher to 5.6 percent, and net migration remaining low at 17,600 in the year to June, there are now encouraging signs that an economic recovery is finally underway.
The travel sector is experiencing strong momentum. Annual overseas visitor arrivals reached 3.7 million for the year ended June – only a fraction behind the 2019 pre-Covid peak.
Exports have reached record levels. With strong commodity prices and international demand, the total export value of New Zealand goods and services for the year ended June was a record $118 billion, well ahead of the pre-Covid level of $86 billion.
New vehicle sales have been on a strong upwards trajectory with year-to-date passenger registrations almost 11 percent higher than last year.
Investment in plant and equipment has surged, following the Government’s “Investment Boost” initiative in Budget 2025, which granted firms an immediate 20 percent tax deduction on new productive assets.
Business confidence has also improved dramatically and is now near a 12-year high.
While consumer confidence remains low, it is, nevertheless, moving in a positive direction – as can be seen in the retail spending figures in the year to June, which were 3 percent higher than last year, with early‑July transactions running nearly 5 percent ahead.
Residential building activity, which is another important economic indicator, is also trending upwards, although the housing sector as a whole is still facing serious challenges – as this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentary from Economist Tony Alexander explains:
“At the end of July, the number of properties listed for sale around New Zealand stood at 35,700 in seasonally adjusted terms. This was a 9% rise from a year earlier and the highest level of stocks since March 2015. The average nationwide stock for the past ten years has been 25,300 so the current inventory is 41% above average.
“Compared with a year ago average prices nationwide over the past three months were running 0.6% down from a year ago. But West Coast was up 3.7%, Southland 7.1, and Canterbury 3.7%. Wellington was down 4.1% and Auckland down 2.1%.
“Prices may keep falling if the 40,600 consents issued this past year – ahead 19% annually – get built at the usual percentage of over 95%.
“Supply matters and that is why the high level and rate of growth in the number of consents issued for new dwellings to be built is very important when considering what happens with prices going forward. But with mortgage rates rising and population growth below average, price growth will be constrained.”
Just as the slowdown in the housing market has brought good news for first home buyers, it is also bringing positive benefits for renters. In the residential rental sector, annual rental growth has slowed to its lowest rate in 25 years, with property indices showing national median rents sitting completely flat for months on end.
So, what are the experts saying?
The Reserve Bank Governor Dr Anna Breman says: “New Zealand’s economic recovery has most likely resumed.”
The ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner reports: “Data this week painted a picture of an economy that continues to recover.”
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr believes: “A recovery is underway and should strengthen into 2027.”
Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold argues: “This stronger expected growth recovery should be important in reducing concerns about downside risks to the economy”
ASB senior economist Mark Smith explains: “The recovery is expected to strengthen and broaden.”
And in a new report on New Zealand, the international ratings agency Moody’s concludes: “New Zealand’s economy is emerging from two years of stagnation with support from strong agricultural export prices, recovering tourism and the lagged effects of earlier monetary easing.”
Looking back, Labour’s prolonged pandemic spending and the subsequent immigration surge resulted in government debt ballooning from $58 billion or 18.6 percent of GDP in 2019 to $155 billion – almost 40 percent of GDP – by the time they left office.
They created a legacy of pain that significantly contributed to the deep domestic inflation that resulted in New Zealand’s severe economic downturn.
Indeed, it’s ironic that the ones most affected by Labour’s reckless mismanagement of the economy are those they pretend to care about the most. Lower-to-middle-income families – particularly renters or those re-fixing mortgages on tight budgets – have suffered the most through this period, with roughly 31 percent of households still dedicating over 40 percent of their disposable income entirely to housing costs.
Rather than admitting failure, Labour now wants us to believe that they are best equipped to solve the economic difficulties they created!
There’s a simple economic truth: it takes five minutes to get into debt, but decades to repay it. Repairing structural economic damage takes time, and while New Zealand is finally making progress, there’s still a long way to go.
Once they were elected in 2023, the Coalition began to rein in government spending. As well as cutting costs, they also attempted to grow the economy out of the difficulties – a strategy that had worked well when John Key took office in 2008 following the Global Financial Crisis.
But in 2008, the GFC had crushed domestic demand, allowing the Reserve Bank to slash interest rates to stimulate growth. In 2023, however, the situation was the opposite: the Bank was proactively trying to suppress domestic demand, which meant the Coalition’s early efforts to stimulate growth were met with heavy resistance.
As a result – and thanks to the legacy of Labour – not only has the country’s debt burden continued to grow to $186 billion or 41.3 percent of GDP, with an interest bill of almost $10 billion a year, which is more than the annual operating budgets of Defence, Police, Corrections, and Customs combined, but the Coalition has been criticised for not being aggressive enough in undoing the damage they inherited!
At this stage, what New Zealand needs is a new government that will focus on continuing the hard work of economic repair — not one that would indulge in reckless spending.
And that’s the problem with MMP – it’s like Russian Roulette: at some stage the coalition of the crazies will be back in power with Chloe Swarbrick as Minister of Finance in charge of the Treasury – if the Greens get their way!
New Zealand’s economy is finally starting to grow again. Year on year, annual GDP expansion has recovered to 1.5 percent, after a period of largely negative growth. Treasury’s latest forecast expects growth to strengthen to 2.3 percent in 2027 and 3.2 percent in 2028.
And the good news is that the ‘actual’ figures for the deficit and debt are better than forecast, showing the Coalition’s programme of economic repair is finally working – although there’s clearly a long way to go.
Looking ahead, since decisions about economic growth are shaped by tax settings, regulation, infrastructure, energy costs, access to capital, and the expected return on risk taking, a future government should not only be focussed on how to make sure those fundamentals are conducive to growth, but also on how to make it genuinely more rewarding to work, invest, and produce in New Zealand.
We need more companies like Gallagher, Rocket Lab, Xero, and Weta Workshops — businesses that have turned Kiwi ingenuity, technology, and capital into high value outputs that succeed on the world stage, lifting incomes for workers, shareholders, communities, and the country as a whole.
So, in answer to our original question of whether the economy is recovering or still in crisis, the consensus is that a recovery is underway, but it remains fragile. That means there will need to be serious restraint in government spending over the coming years.
As a result, election promises should be judged on whether they strengthen the foundations of growth. The key to improving living standards is not redistributing wealth but growing the economic pie so that everyone can have a bigger slice. Parties committed to expanding New Zealand’s ability to produce, export, and innovate will improve our future outlook, while those calling for higher taxes to fund extravagant spending promises risk dragging the country back into the economic mire from which we are only just beginning to emerge.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*What is your view on the current state of the New Zealand economy?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Politics Trump Middle East | Rick |
| we have a long way to go. small businesses need to be encouraged to help grow the economy and provide more jobs | caren |
| I feel the corner has been turned, but fear what will happen if a radical Labour government is back in charge! | Susan |
| Less welfare for those under 25. Parents should ensure their children get educated, or support them themselves, and not expect other taxpayers to fund them. | Elaine |
| National should have cut spending when they first got in and removed the radicals hired by Labour from the public service. Then they might have had a chance to make better progress with their reforms. | Bryan |
| Why would we want the divisive, communistic Labour Ardern/Hipkins back in power again? They virtually destroyed the country. | Monica |
| The economy will always be in crisis while there are differences in the treatment of people according to ethnicity. | Peter |
| will take many years We are doomed if the Lefties Get Back | leo |
| Tell the coalition to stop lying about fixing the basics. They haven’t and poverty will increase, while they penalize the poorest. | Carolyn |
| Prices are going up not down | Anthony |
| Which will be wrecked if there is a change of government | Bruce |
| the huge debt left by labour has left the coalition little wiggle room.reversing this has taken restraint and effort,slowly the woem is turning i think and with an other term in office will see even more progress in bring in a favourable outcome. The largest issue how ever ,and the elephant in the room is the race relation problem ,this under pinns all others ,and untill this matter is fixed for ever there will be no progress in nz The Maori seats have to go along with all racebased decision making,the Waitangi tribunal needs to be dis established and all treaty clauses should be erased from all legislation.We are at a serious cross road now and these matters need urgent attention | galem |
| I feel the Coalition are finally moving New . Zealand in the right direction but not many people are seeing any improvement in their situations | Chris |
| Our economy might stand a chance if only an immediate stop was made to dishing out billions of taxpayer and ratepayer hard-earned dollars to advance woke agendas, most especially to advance everything and anything related to Maorification and the funding of Maori fraudulent claims; together with the climate fraud. Add to this, stop funding immigrant beneficiaries who have not worked and paid taxes for many years to fund their welfare dependance. | Colin |
| We need production, not excessive spending. | William |
| Too much is leaning on the upcoming election. Are we going to aim to balance the books or elect a government who will once again punish the income earners and hand out to the welfare demanders | Peter |
| Strong fiscal restraint and deep cost savings are required urgently. $10 billion in interest is unacceptable when it could be better spent on improving the life of everyday New Zealanders. | Alastair |
| Having looked at the Bribe-O-Meter New Zealand is stuffed if any of the far left parties gain power again such as liebour, Greens, ToP or TPM. I would also state that National must not hold the balance of power given Luxon refused to cut the public service, stop DEI & Co-Governance & refused to hold a binding referendum. So I hope like hell that enough Kiwi’s vote for ACT & NZ First in enough numbers to save the country. | John |
| The NZ Economy – Too Many Bad Systems? Whilst it is easy for us mere mortals to succumb to the overwhelming economic intelligencer the facts are that the economy is stagnant and more of the same policies may improve some financial stats at the expense of employment, housing and the cost of living. There is no real recovery – the dead cat is bouncing! The realities are still not accepted by the political class that govern. The state of the coal face is not recognised for what it is – or for the state it is in. No solutions can or will emerge that would repair a dysfunctional economy unless that dysfunction is recognised. So, what are these bad systems? Here is a few. Let’s start with the MMP as it is a social, circular political system that has a tribal base and such a base means policy that the voter must vote on mostly results in a government that hits the road having policies the voter never voted for in the first place! It is a system that identifies a huge distrust of the electorate by the public sector. The next one is the Labour System. Over decades, mass unionism has attacked the flexibility of companies, businesses and institutions and the regulatory system had no conscience. Labour law must be introduced to force industrial relations institutions to consider the state of industry, business and company groups prior to handing down wages and conditions the companies cannot afford to pay. The company closure stats have it that almost 10 companies or businesses per day shut-down or go against the wall in NZ – every day. That is around 100 per 10-day period. 1,500 companies and businesses shut-down in greater Wellington during the current government’s term. Those that follow Australian economics will know that during the socialist Labour government term some 40,000 businesses or 38 per day have shut-down. Company and business failure does not connect to predicted economic growth, it connects to economic stagnation or recession and increasing unemployment queues. A growing real economy does not have perpetual reduction in economic activity and increasing business closures. The next bad system is mass immigration as it is part of the problem not part of the solution. Immigration should only be based on the needs of the private sector and be regulatory permitted around those needs. If the political culture looks, they will find thousands of young New Zealanders coming out of the education institutions and going on the unemployed list as jobs in the public sector have been opened up to overseas students and immigrants. It is unbelievable that Somalians, Indians, Chinese, Pakistani’s, Muslims etc. and every other race should be favoured in the public sector above those born in NZ – but this is happening. Unlike overseas immigrants the parents of these young people have been paying taxes for decades to prepare their children for the work force. It is reality – not racism. Not to mention the huge increase in cost of infrastructure, housing and social benefits that are required for policies that do not increase growth, but increase the dependency on debt. As stated often, this flows through to increase the cost of living and the cost of existing. The next bad system is the lack of realistic teaching of basic economics. Practical economics consists of four main functions. That of production, consumption, distribution and exchange and for the last 25 years NZ has encouraged and watched the dissolution of the production of goods in terms of fundamental manufacture. Basic manufacturing has been passed to overseas, exploited, low labour cost countries to bring own the cost of goods. This has resulted in a swath of NZ company shut-downs that have seen the departure of up to 20% of the country’s experienced work force. Mainly to Australia. Importation of most needed manufactures goods has been the result and the almost absolute loss of quality control standards on those goods has adversely impacting on the trades industries. Not to mention the destruction of fundamental manufacturing in NZ that has been driven by China. A totalitarian oppressive regime that is advancing in NZ and the Pacific. Who was it that sold the soul of the NZ economy for 30 pieces of silver? You whistle and I will point. In terms of education, if young people who emerge into adulthood from schooling had knowledge of basic economics the political system would be unable to exploit them at the ballot box. That is, by using the policies of elitist globalism from the right or the socialist utopia policies from the left. Neither can be paid for by the taxation system. The truth is that the wealth of a country is generated by businesses and companies creating private sector growth and when this is happening young people can progress from education into a job. Today insufficient companies are in existence to provide this aged natural step. Take a look at the unemployed numbers. The reliance on very successful exports and high tech or precision manufacture to balance the loss of fundamental manufacturing has proven to be an economist’s dream and a politician’s hope. Climate change policies have ravaged business and companies with high operating costs that cannot be passed on. But, in a growing number of cases, has simply reduced their annual yields adversely and forced too many into closure. The climate change monster was built on a scientific lie that CO2 is a toxic gas and was taking out the planet. The truth is CO2 is a harmless, microscopic natural gas that is vital for our food production and the production of oxygen. Oxygen is in slow depletion. Food production is vital and the capability of planet to feed the population is reaching its zenith. We have learnt nothing from the global financial crisis of 2008 or the forced economic collapse of 2020, due to Covid politics. In the words of one of the most successful industrialists of the 20th Century; “If you always do what you have always done – you will always get what you have always got!” Henry Ford. No government or opposition can find solutions unless they can see the realities – they are not looking!!! | Frederick |
| The Elephant in the room, is still being ignored….. the elrphant in the room is ,of course the CONVID 19……… SCAMDEMIC, which the Govt, refuses to have a PROPER INQUIRY. LOTS OF SICK KIWIS, STILL… WHICH HEALTH N.Z WILL NOT LOOK AT! MORE YOUNG KIWIS, GETTING CANCER, AND OTHER UNKNOWN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, WHICH NATIONAL REFUSES TO LOOK INTO!! STILL LOTS OF LOOSE ENDS REGARDING THIS GENOCIDE!! THEY WANT TO JAB YOUR KIDS WITH MORE POISONS!! IT WON’T GO AWAY! | David |
| things are tough but if the loonie left get in it will collapse again | marie |
| 14% of the population just today think we need a state owned supermarket chain for only a further undercosted 2 billion of borrowings. The education system production of financial illiteracy in this Country far exceeds that of English illiteracy concentrated as it maybe in a particular proportion of the population | Richard |
| The future is looking much brighter now. | Mark |
| Keep Nat Act. ZFirst in govt! | Rosalie |
| The OCR rise has stalled recovery amature hour by the Govener | Eric |
| It is amazing and frightening how many people are so ignorant over the damage done to our country and people by the Labour government. Do not vote any of thje crazy parties in. or WE ARE DOOMED. | Valerie |
| The economy is fragile but the recovery is underway, let’s hope it carries on and i think it will if National gets back into power and NOT that other usliss lot from the left with the tree hungers and the rashist lot from the south. | COLIN |
| While we are told there is bugger all money, another 200 million dollars has been announced for revitalising the nonsensicalmaori language today, our hospitalsRe starving..what the hell is wrong with Willis ? She needs to go. | Carly |
| Until we get the current National government and its leader to face the racial divide in this country the economy will not grow at pace and Maori will still hold New Zealand to ransom, The Treaty Tribunal needs to be abolished, and the Treaty Principal Bill needs to be enacted. Then we can all move on at pace. | Ken |
| Too much debt. Too many government employees. Too many bludgers | Frank |
| The coalition must cut out the waste not just to balance the books but to reduce peoples dependency on Govt. handout. Socialism does not work, it robs people of their best life. Time to stop the experiment. | Sam |
| I’ve got no money | Magog |
| i cant contemplate the return of Labour, as they will wreck our economy again as the head of that party was part of the initial disaster! | warren |
| Just so so !! Need more overseas investment plus more of our own. Ignore Labour and Greens rubbish. | Alan |
| What still amazes me is that they have no trouble funding all this Maori support / development to the tune of $ millions without so much of a blink of an eye. | Judy |
| If one is to believe a recovery is underway but still a long way off. We only has to look at the value of the NZ dollar to see its in the toilet currently | Lawrie |
| A vote for Labour and there side kicks is a vote for having your foot hard on the accelerator for cogovernance. | Paul |
| Still pain out there must stay focused and cut back on top heavy wasteful government departments and councils similar waste then load onto ratepayers | Peter |
| Yes it will take a long time for the country to get over the last government’s disastrous policies. It won’t happen overnight, but we are getting there. God help us if the lunatic left win this election. | Peter |
| Just look at the sale of red meat, Dairy, and tourism! | Neville |
| Govt must slash non essential spending on net zero, cultural stuff, etc. | David |
| That only one enlightened person mentioned health is an indictment on the elitism that is now pervasive throughout NZ. Without a healthy population NZ is doomed. It is the first among priorities. Ours is continuing its descent into further impoverishment. Sick people can’t function. Fire Dr John Crawshaw. | Valerie |
| I don’t get any impression we are doing as well as some would have us believe | yvonne |
| will take years to recover | leo |
| The worst thing would be a change of government. | Jackie |
| NZ is in a very weak financial position and accordingly vulnerable to any major shock from a natural disaster or escalating warfare. We must continue with a centre right coalition. | Keith |
| A long way to go ! | Geoffrey |
| We are in crisis alright! But that’s what the lenders want! A country with it’s own currency and no debt cannot be controlled. We will never ever pay off our debt of fake fiat money, the covid era was to totally entrench debt. Billions upon billions upon billions of fake unbacked debt not worth the paper it’s printed on, so to speak. All to enslave the population further, and control the politicians and government. With the election looming people think a change of government will make a difference, well they’ll find out soon enough. The people that control this country are not the government or the politicians. | Peter |
| And it’s going to take steady hands on the wheel to keep our ship headed the right way. Taxing the living daylights out of the already struggling workers will only drop us in the deep end, without a life preserver! | J J |
| We are slowly coming out of the pooh. A Labour led government will return us into further debt and co-governance will become the norm. Apartheid will show its ugly head. | Ross |
| Way to much Gunnint talkie and not enough do-eee. The haven’t done half of what they campaigned on to reduce expenses – public servants, gifts to Part Maori’s etc etc.. | Steve |
| Stop throwing all that money at maori activists and use it for infrastructure improvement etc which EVERYBODY will benefit from. | Greg |
| Our economy is no better than it was in 2016. | Denis |
| We need Act and NZ First majority to push National to honour their promises from last election. Spending on ONLY absolute necessities. | Carole |
| Slight recovery underway. Hopefully that will continue to grow. | Murray |
| Must keep the left out. | Steve |
| I have actually prayed to keep Labour and there Socialist leftist mates out of power but just watch thousands of dumb New Zealanders go and vote for the left this coming election, it’s just horrifying how stupid a large proportion of our population is. | Paul |
| I DONT think luxon has the balls to reign in maoris seats ETC.He PROMISED LAST ELECTION TO DO IT I DONT BELEIVE ANYTHING HE SAYS | Cindy |
| IF VOTERS IN N.Z VOTE IN A LEFT COALITION, IT WILL BE THE END O F THIS COUNTRY, AS WE KNOW IT…. VOTING FOR THE SAME MUPPETS, HOPING FOR A DIFFERENT RESULT, IS CALLED INSANITY !!! IT DOES NOT WORK…. A LEFT COALITION, IS NOT THE WAY FORWARD FOR N.Z… THE WAY FORWARD IS A COALITION OF THE BEST GOVERNMENT!! ACT, AND N.Z FIRST. AND SOME INDEPENDENTS, NATIONAL HAVE BEEN USELESS! | David |
| Holding on just. | Heather |
| The economy IS recovering. Slowly , yes but Considering the global events that affect us from without and our own media from within AND the lolly grabbing promises of Greens, Opportunity party and TPM we must give the current Coalition more time to consolidate what they have begun. | Anne |
| On a slow road to recovery. Has anyone noticed the latest 2 polls has labour well down in the twenties? Not a word on tvnz 1 news. Would have been headline news if it was National. Govt needs to cut their funding or sell off. They dont know the meaning of the word neutrality. They only support the left idiots and nutters blatantly. Disgusting! | Kevan |
| National, have not told the TRUTH..about the Economy of N.Z.. Maybe, Nicola Willis, should examine the economic theory, of SOCIAL CREDIT which was used in Canada, for over 40 years, by the provincial Govt, of British Colombia, without any change in government….it also worked in N.Z , for several years…low inflation, and high employment levels as well !! | David |
| Our fragile economic recovery could be crushed if the Marxists in the Greens, TPM and TOP have too much influence in the next government. | Kent |
| There are no free lunches and there certainly is no such thing as free money. Every dollar Labour hands out has to come from somewhere, and it’s hardworking, tax-paying Kiwis who ultimately foot the bill. We cannot afford to keep rewarding handouts while punishing those who work hard, pay their taxes and keep this country running. We need to keep Labour out of government and put hardworking New Zealanders first. | bruce |
| Definitely fragile. Especially if the left win the election because their policies will kill any recovery for sure. | David |
| If the coalition had taken a harder line it would have been accepted, however a slow turnaround is better than nothing. More intestinal fortitude needs to be shown, particularly by National, to address the racial issues that are also holding things back. I’d hate to know the full cost of kow towing to the Maori elite is costing us all. | Liz |
| There’s still a long recovery to come | John |
| 5 mins to wreck the economy 5 years to fix it. A coalition win will fix the economy A lefty one will demolish it Equality over equity | Laurine |
| More needed from the parties of the right. Replacing Luxon wpuld undoubtably help progress. | Mark |
| Any kind of “recovery” will not be recognised by the public until they see and experience a reduction in day to day living costs, these most notably being energy and food | Rob |
| Until The Paris Agreement is scrapped in its entirety our economic situation is in crisis. | AndyE |
| The economy will grow at a much faster rate if a strong Govt will rein in the public service and take control of the machinery run by public service bureaucrats | Rod |
| While the article here rightly points out some key factors that undermined the economy (prior to the beginning of recovery we see developing over the past year), it The impact of Labour’s foolishly overblown COVID policy had far reaching effects,and some are long lasting. To mention just one: The long lockdowns meant absence from school for our youth; it undermined their education, ambition and self-control, which cannot but harm the overall economy even to this day. As to the recovery, let’s not let a focus on Reserve Bank policies lead us to ignore structural factors and regional development, keys to sustained recovery. | Marla |
| Unbelievable really, We are no better off than were were when the Coalition came into Power . Big promises with the election coming ,I have no faith in Labour or National what so ever. Will be interesting to see if what they are saying will ever come to fruition | Rob |
| Two key problems from my perception: 1. The economy cannot recover while so much is literally wasted upon gratuitous pandering to one part of our society. Cease apartheid and we may get somewhere! 2. All politicians are ignoring the Limits to Growth which are a Worldwide issue that will not go away. The Green’s ‘de-growth solutions’ to this are pure rubbish, human nature will always defeat that craziness. Cease the stupidity and we may get somewhere! On both points, we need our politicians to work in New Zealand’s best interests but frankly, the bickering will continue, the Te Tiriti BS will continue and we are likely to get nowhere when we need to be somewhere! | Doug |
| There still remain far too entrenched in NZ the lack of productivity by the populace & hindering of progress by tribal attitudes. | dane |
| There is a lot of work still to be done – we need to allow this to continue uninterrupted, by seeing to it that the rabid lefties never get anywhere near the levers of power! | Scott |
| There is still a huge waste of Taxpayer money! Which is shocking considering it’s supposed to be a cost of living crisis. Tax Payer Union NZ is revealing not only Government waste but also Council. | Dianne |
| I can liken it to learning to dance! Slow – slow – quick quick slow. | Helen |
| I am not an expert on this subject, however the fundamental principle that discipline always works is my opinion. | Tony |
| Labour, the water melons and Te partly Maoris have a lot to answer for. | Mike |
| Just don’t let Hipkins back in power because that would reverse any recovery made to date | Rhys |
| If we stay the course with National we could be a “rock star” economy once again. | Chris |
| people are starting to manage better even if the media and cloe s doesnt agree. its on its way up | michael |
| More discipline is needed for quite a while yet. | Wayne |
| Whilst we allow any company making areasonable profit to be sold to overseas interests or the take over of Kiwi owned banks/ businesses we will continue to go down the gurgler | nioel |
| Government is way to big and wastes far too much. Racial issues are getting worse. I give performance a c- grade. | Richard |
| We need to make sure that National is returned to Govern and it must be decisive and make the hard but correct decisions. Whatever else Labour must be prevented from ever getting the chance near the introduction of Capital Gains Tax. The MMP seats must be gone by breakfast time.. | CHRIS |
| There are encouraging signs of an economic recovery. Things are emerging and infrastructure is gaining momentum. Let’s give the coalition another term to keep the momentum going. Its not perfect but heaven help us if the opposition parties get hold of the treasury. | Chris |
| We are some distance from having a strong recovery; but the slim prospect of having the lunatics returned to government is having a bit of a damping effect. | Bob |
| It seems bizarre to me that so much of New Zealand’s hard earned tax dollars paid to this government seems to be so unproductive by grifting it away to me, me, me greedy groups apparently quietly negotiated or pressured large amounts of ‘settlement’ money – until next time!! Then it seems they do it all again and again – probably with a massive inner smile “That was easy again wasn’t it”.!!!!! | Stuart |
| Probably a fragile recovery staggering along from crisis mode. What New Zealand needs is more seriously wealthy people, not just with a few million spare, but with tens of millions. Wealthy people do not sit at home counting their money. By contrast, they both buy and start businesses, they employ people, they spend on upmarket property, cars, boats and aeroplanes, all of which require maintenance and create employment. How any sane person with a basic understanding of money could vote for the communist green party of New Zealand beggars belief. | Peter |
| Only Electorate Vote National Party Vote ACT or NZF and we will guarantee to lock Labour out | Basil |
| I dont see much of a sign that things are on their way up, no matter who gets to run the country. They have it all backwards | Barbara |
| We need Political Leadership to expand on what New Zealand makes and Sells. I call only see One Party that has a Grip on that. God Defend new Zealand. | Geoff |
| God help NZ if the loony left get power in Nov….if they do I’m off to live my last few years in Hobart, Tasmania | Andy |
| Doing the same things does not give better results. Radical change is needed to stimulate growth. | Clive |
| Exit the Paris Accord, exit the UN, WHO, ICC, all global deals. Make New Zealand Great Again. Love President Trump!! | Coral |
| However, if a Labour/ Greens/ TPM coalition is elected in this year, economic recovery will disappear. Even worse if TOP are in the picture. | Charles |
| life support needed, oxygen anyone ?? | john |
| Tooooooo many socialist like Fucson running the show. Time for a major reset in the way NZ is governed!! We need to drain the swamp | Greg |
| Thank heavens the Minister of Finance can occasionally so NO unlike Hipkins No1 buddy Robertson – who is stupid enough to believe this man | DAVID |
| Im confident as long as Labour and associated Morons dont grt anywhere near the Treasury bench’s it will continue to improve . sadly that may well provide an excuse for the Woke Scum to push for more gravy train gifting to the maoris . Im not so confident Luxon will not in an effort to lie down and be shafted by maori greed ,by more gratuitous unwarranted gifting to appease the rabble ,known by the media as the elite . Shame Mr Penk ,the removal of Luxon was unsuccessful , early days my friend , better luck next time . | Ray |
| indication are looking good for 2027and we need our current Govt. to stay in power for the next at 3 terms plus to get NZ prosperous again | Gerald |
| I don’t think the government acted soon enough by doing what was promised it will cost National a lot of votes the voters are not happy just hope Act and NZ first get enough to get the government back in | Peter |
| Scary | Dave |
| We are seeing it in Christchurch & SI tourism | Kay |
| It is fragile but recovering and does not need a government that lived beyond it means again. | Alan |
| Food prices, power and rates remain way too high and will continue to hold the country back. | Mark |
| The signs are there. I see new buildings going up. Households spending on maintenance and improvements. Mall carparks full and food halls packed. | Carl |
| If governments paid less to iwi & used those billions of dollars on infrastructure then New Zealand would be better off for all its citizens. | Barbara |
| I can see things turning and a change of government at this stage will be disastrous, to the level we may never recover. We need to stay the course but ramp it up steadily. | Lindsay |
| Baby steps forward on a long path ahead. | Paul Grace |
| Slowly, but improving it still requires discipline to reduce Govt expenditure and incentives to increase production and resources to increase production of our huge natural resources. | Paul |
| We are very much exposed to overdeas oil prices. The cost of which quickly moves into most products NZers purchase. | Graham |
| Oh that the MMP threat will not be realized! | Robin |
| Which hopefully will gain strength if Luxon and co will allow it. | Gerry |
| Muriel’s – evaluation of debt to GDP – from $58 billion to $155 billion leaves $97 billion. An eye watering amount for the so called team of 5 million to repay. Today we debate human rights and who to blame games. For the sake of our future generations please do not vote for any party who has never had business ability enough to understand the countries needs for the future and our children’s welfare. | Maurice |
| Subject to the outcomes of the ongoing antics of a less than sane, ultra-narcissistic , ego-centric President Trump and whatever narcissistic ego-enhancing antics he might be contemplating and may yet initiate / implement on top of his existing bullying , ill-judged , backfiring initiatives / commitments , with their very serious adverse impacts on the World’s political and economic situation / stability . | Hugh |
| STOP iWi THEFT | Mike |
| If it were not for the continual resistance to what this government by the public services, acting for the government’s program, we would be in a much better place! | nails |
| We seem to still be following the failures of the past, spend, spend and still spend, can this be reversed into a formula of save save save? | Warren |
| Fragile but noticeable | Joe |
| A fragile recovery IS underway…but beware of the obvious enemy within ! God defend NZ…. | Bruce |
| those at the bottom are still struggling very much with food banks at their highest demand – perhaps other areas are picking up – I hope so | Jill |
| We are wasting money by giving to maori, when it should be going to Hospitals | Colin |
| It’s like the All Blacks fielding a team of injured players. “the crazies will be back in power with Chloe Swarbrick as Minister of Finance in charge of the Treasury – if the Greens get their way!” They should be sent off for head injury assessment! | Mick |
| As long as we have a Prime Minister that has NO CONTROL OVER THE SPENDING OF THE MP,’S , the Maoi’s , and WAYNE BROWN of Auckland Council, Rates , the Future of NZ Looks Bleak. THE GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY !! | Pierre Olivier |
| We are finally seeing some light at the end of labours dark tunnel.like others if labour and their idiot partners, greens, the maori party and top get in in november we are selling up and leaving NZ. How could anyone vote for these lunatics if you are of sound mind? Air NZ will be busy if they do! | Allan |
| No one’s having a good year that I know | Max |
| Reduce bureucracy. | Roger |
| The economy is only just starting to show sighs of recovering | Peter |
| We have had too much cake and the future must now continue a small amount of good quality spending which avoids moving into crisis again in future years and reduces debt. | Trevor |
| I say this, all things being equal. If we do not continue along the same pathway, I will no longer be so confident. | Sue |
| The fragile recovery will be dashed if the left bock gain power. | Geoff |
| Unless the current Government retains the Treasury benches the economy will tank over the next 3 years. | Grant |
| Unfortunately the Government has not done enough to stop the need to borrow to keep the country functioning. If re elected they must take much stronger action to halt spending increases in non productive frontline sectors of the public service. Health, education (excluding Universities), law and order to be exempted from spending cuts please. | Chris |
| It appears to be. But painfully slowly and with vague leadership creating uncertainty and distrust in NZ politics. Taking a harder line on NZ media bias (regulation of funding and performance) would solve a lot of issues in NZ politics. | Andrew |
| And not before time either. | Mike6 |
| Thats good considering the TRUMP factor. | Ian |
| This National government is not showing enough bravery to kill off public sector wastage, discretionary expenditure. Maori rorts and the never ending rates increases. Business confidence, share markets and rising interest rates are all trending wrongly. Adding hurt with intended Kiwisaver minimums putting more kiwi workers money in the hands of financiers so govt access to debt is easier is also a blatantly wrong step. | Mike |
| We need careful and responsible economic management to continue the recovery that has been gained. A leftist government will only make things worse, and therefore harder to continue the recovery. | Laurence |
| Very fragile until they sort the bureaucrat numbers out and reduce our inflated debt | tony |
| As long as the current govt return to power the recovery will get stronger as we head into 27. If it doesn’t the coalition of the left will destroy this country at a great rate of knots! | Mike |
| The only way the recovery can continue is the return of National the Act Party and NZ First at the next election. Any other Parties would bring chaos to NZ and drive people overseas. | Steve |
| Economic growth will be positive if the National led coalition get back in. If a Labour led coalition get in it will be a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. | jim |
| Labour should be outlawed as a party for the reckless damage they did to the economy. | Evans |
| fiddling with interest rates is totally counterproductive | chris |
| The economy is being destroyed by design by the left and the right. We are being lied to daily by the MSM, politicians and especially the bureaucrats who are running every thing anyway. As per klaus, you will own nothing and you will be happy! The biggest drug addiction in this country is FEAR, and way too many people are hooked on it. | Alan Harris |
| We’ve got a long way to go and restraint is needed to prevent further problems. | Bruce |
| The media loves bad news it sells media, so the slow recovery is not news worthy and is ignored by the media. | Ray |
| Improving, as long as there isn’t a change of govt – a return to the left would be disastrous for NZ in my view. | Barry |
| Maybe somewhere between fragile and strong. | Andrew |
| The current Government needs a second term to continue to stabalise the huge debt to GDP % from the last Labour led coalition. Growth and Prudent spending and debt reduction are crucial to strengthen the recovery into positive sentiment. | John |
| Entrepreneurs are fleeing the country. | Bill |
| Smaller government and completely abolishing the carbon tax and ETS nonsense would give a huge boost to economic health. | Kevin |
| If the government in power stopped giving multi millions to The Paris accord, UN’s war in Yugoslavia and millions to TOW and so called Maori grievances and were tougher on social welfare that would all help NZ to quicker recovery | Wayne |
| The good folk in N Z appear to have no idea what’s coming. The World is buried in debt. What nation’s economy will be the first to implode. When all else fails they will take us to War. | ed |
| not good. | COLIN |
| Compared to many other OECD countries NZ is doing very well .. | Mike |
| As long as we do not have any further major crises. | Rose |
| The coalition has put us deeper into debt than Labour did. Too weak to make the required changes. | Rod |
| great explanation | Andrew |
| Pleasing comments from the experts. A pity these aren’t promoted more on our news media. We seem to get doom and gloom stories from them. | Grant |
| As long as the crazies are kept out. | Rob |
| Concerns about the upcoming election are locking up the economy currently. Let us hope that sense prevails. | Geoff |
| We need another three years of National and Act just to get back on track. Only the hard work of every day Kiwis will turn the Economy around but it will take more than 5 minutes | Frank |
| Please. Another 3 years of the Coalition should move us from Fragile to strong | DOUGLAS |
| The government needs to stop relentless unnecessary spending and start saving. | Gavin |
| I want NZ to grow but it may be a long time before the disasterous errors of the Labour led government during Covid-19 regulations can be overcome. | Ray |
| We will see a stronger recovery if this Coalition Government continues with a greater representation of NZ First and ACT after the election. | John |
| That former Minister of Lunches and Dinners, Megan Woods, should be constantly pilloried for her ignorant destruction of our oil and gas independence, so the swarbricks et al know what awaits their ascent | Kevin |
| Indications eeem to be that we are on the up again | Derek |
| It seems that just as groceries are becoming more affordable, The OCR gets cranked up. Giving with one hand and taking away with the other. | Janet |
| With tikanga at the centre of decisions, this is the best they can do …. | ARTHUR |
| There is no easy solution, just keep Labour and their useless sidekicks out of the spending range of all NZ’ers | Tom |
| I’m a believer that not only New Zealand Economy is in the doldrums but so is the rest of the western world.As a size of our economy we are only a small minority & have to be very vigilant with our economy.not easy when we have the Leftist party’s saying we should be spending more.Unfortunately Moneys don’t grow on Trees – unless they are Harvested. | Michael |
| The prospect of Labour/Greens /TPM coalition is just terrifying and would put us in a downward spiral with likely no chance of escape. | Roger |
| We are finding it better living in Australia. | john |
| The economy is not all roses with unemployment rates and the taxpayer funding 2 economies and apartheid separatism. Plus, the cost of living is high. Small steps and the economy is still fragile. | Eileen |
| Slow and steady wins the race! That Labour lot screwed the country alongside bad decisions by the then RB Governor. It is going to take more than 3 years to make any real impact on our economy, but it is already showing signs of recovery. If the people of this beautiful country want our country back – LOCK LABOUR AND THEIR COMMIE COHORTS OUT OF GOVERNMENT! | Heather |
| The national debt is not being rerduced aas it should be. Immigaration damage prevails. WE need less people in the nation | Thomas |
| we are slowly coming right, i believe we are on the right track. | Barry |
| In my view the economy is still suffering from some Maori activists interfering with democracy | Gerhard |
| Labour did a LOT of damage that will take a long time to rectify. We don’t need increased spending / borrowing. Reducing taxes stimulates economies…. Increasing taxes has the opposite effect. Governments must learn to live within their income – not increase it to waste on unnecessary jaunts. | Simon |
| The country is on the road to recovery, but we need to stop all immigration to ease pressure on housing & medical care. And do not let the Labour idiota & their cronies into power. | David |
| New Zealand needs to be much more active in reducing the Government’s interest bill ASAP. Needs to ensure that those who are escaping in paying normal TAX are brought into line to pay their share. And to put an end to the endless fraudulent claims for payments for so called reparations that have no real basis to further increase significant costs to our normal standard of living. It all adds up and it needs to stop. | garry |
| The propped up media cotinue to present the left as credible and go-ahead, whilst almost constantly presenting the members of the coalition as bumbling and incompetent. Has there ever been a media in NZ so intent on ridding the country of a sitting Govt as this one? | John |
| good but still influenced by Trump antics | john |
| we are a third world country now. too much damage done during covid. | Garry |
| The election is now a handbrake due to the risk of Crazy Chloe et al | Graham |
| We would have been ahead of where we are now if it wasn’t for the Iran conflict, Also, if National had backed and attacked Govt spending sooner, as advised by the Taxpayers Union, and had supported the coalitions drive to reel in activism in a more timely manner. | Jeff |
| Just a shame Trump has put his great boot into it!! | Glenda |
| I agree wholeheartedly with this article. Keeping government spending under control by getting a National,Act, NZF, coalition is the best way forward. | Barbara |
| Recovery & some optimism in business is apparent – far too easily blasted by the current opposition & radical parties | Peter |
| Why is every unskilled job now filled by Indians instead of NZers? We don’t need migrants, we need politicians who will make social welfare real again! | James |
| Excess import of migrants . Shortage of housing and pressure on social and medical services increasing. Deliberate erosion of energy security. Loss of sovereign decision making. Internal division based this insane TOW . To name just a few problems. The list goes on and on. | Michael |
| Lux must fall on his sword | Chris |
| The patch work repairs are not working | Ken |
| Too many handicaps for our private industries, like carbon taxing, compliance costs, labour costs, global warming laws restraining our agri businesses. Weak government policies if any. | Leonard |
| The Coalition has made progress and needs at least another term to consolidate what they have achieved and hopefully the war in the middle east will come to an end sooner than later | Peter |
| Wealth Destruction as never seen in New Zealand’s history. May as well be WW3 and get a bunch of “food stamps”. | Chris |
| It needs more guts. | Murray |
| Still in crisis from where I sit | Terry |
| Still too much at the mercy of overseas impacts. Still spends way too much on sectors of society rather than society as a whole, diverting investment in essential services for everyone. | anon |
| How to pull back Governor Orr’s disastrous decisions and the total lack of care and a ‘let’s spend all this money’ attitude from the Labour govt will be a very hard road but it is beginning to happen. I hope this coalition is voted back into Govt | Elizabeth |
| election may detremine if it continues or flounders | Bryan |
| Inbuilt monopolies like in the electricity sector (among others) that are not open to commercial competition hold back structural reform. Still far too many hurdles to jump to get anything done. | Gavin |
| Like all other aspects, of the country the economy, is being led to CRASH…..THE W.E.F/IMF/UN.s Agenda, has been set up to FAIL,so like everything else it,s been set up to fail…. they want us gone, so it will crash, so thats their AGENDA!! | David |
| The coalition govt needs to get back in govt. To keep NZ moving forward | Dianne |
| Hopeful | Kylie |
| Middle East is a worry | Rick |
| No the grass is not greener stick with the lot we have now | Geoff |
| I think the economy is improving but very slowly | Marie |
| Thank goodness the recovery is finally underway – no thanks to Labour or the Reserve Bank! | David |
| It is scary to think that the ones creating the economic mess we’ve been struggling to escape from might be back in charge in just two months with even more irresponsible and radical parties alongside them! We’ll be leaving the country if that happens. | Maureen |
| Thank you for the analysis Muriel – I had no idea the Reserve Bank’s incompetence has had such a disastrous impact on the country. | Phil |
| Surely voters will not put Labour back in charge when they did such a bad job last time? Or perhaps they don’t realise the truth. This column should be published in all the country’s main newspapers, so voters understand the danger. | Harry |
| National could have done more to cut Labour’s wasteful spending programmes and axe the tens of thousands of activists they employed in the bloated public service. | Bruce |