Recession or no recession, it’s not looking flash

Westpac Bank is forecasting the economy contracted 0.4% in the first quarter. (Image: Getty)

Wed, 14 Jun 2023

Regardless of whether New Zealand’s economy tipped into a technical recession in the second quarter, it’s cooling.The economy contracted 0.6% in the December quarter. If Stats NZ reports a second quarter of negative growth on Thursday for the March quarter that will be a technical recession.Economists, however, are split on which side of zero the number will fall.Economic momentum is “clearly slowing” on the back of the 525 basis points of hikes delivered by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand since late 2021, said ANZ Bank....

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