New Zealand growth has roared back to life with a 1.1 per cent result last quarter, but remains a smaller economy than a year ago.
After posting a shocker negative 0.9 per cent GDP result in the June quarter, which was revised up to one per cent in fresh figures from Stats NZ on Thursday, the September quarter has cancelled out those losses.
Manufacturing and business services led the charge, with exports up by 3.3 per cent including bumper growth in tourism and dairy.
It’s been a lumpy year for the Kiwi economy, which has now grown by more than one per cent in two of the last five quarters, and shrunk by one per cent or more in another two.
The net effect is -0.5 per cent growth for the past year, reflecting its challenging pathway out of the post-pandemic doldrums.
While recent conditions can only be described as dire, the quarterly result was a tonic for Prime Minister Chris Luxon, who said “going for growth is without a doubt priority number one” at the start of the year.
Mr Luxon championed Thursday’s figures on social media, saying it meant “more jobs, higher wages and more opportunity for Kiwis”.
That doesn’t quite square with the current reality, with unemployment up to 5.3 per cent – a nine-year high – and wage growth running at 2.1 per cent, behind headline inflation at three per cent.
The last quarter was attributed to US President Donald Trump’s approach to trade, with global uncertainty surrounding the implementation of tariffs.
Across 2025, Mr Luxon’s government has since sunk in the polls, with most pollsters tipping a very close result in next year’s election.
The latest poll, published by Wellington newspaper The Post on Wednesday night, showed Labour on track to tip the National-led right-leaning coalition from office.
Such a result would be historic, as New Zealand’s first one-term government in half a century, and the first right-leaning government not to be re-elected in 90 years.
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