Recession tilts the balance towards the RBNZ moving sooner

All eyes will be on governor Adrian Orr this year to see whether the Reserve Bank cuts the OCR earlier than it has flagged. (Image: BusinessDesk)

Rebecca Howard

Thu, 21 Mar 2024

New Zealand was officially in a recession at the end of 2023, adding to the view the central bank may cut rates before this year is out. The gross domestic product contracted 0.1% in the December 2023 quarter, compared with the September 2023 quarter when it contracted 0.3%. Economists traditionally define a recession as two successive quarters when the economy contracts.GDP per capita fell 0.7% in the last three months of the year, Stats NZ said. It was down 3.1% compared to a year earlier. “In the context of the very...

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