Economists are anticipating GDP growth close to zero for the last quarter.  

The Reserve Bank's forecasting a flat zero percent, ANZ is expecting a 0.1 percentage point growth, while ASB anticipates a 0.2-point drop. 

If today's economic growth figures are negative New Zealand will enter a technical recession after the last quarter also saw negative growth.  

NZ Initiative executive director Oliver Hartwich told Mike Hosking that if it goes slightly up or down it doesn't matter as GDP per capita is what's important.  

He says it plays out against a background of record immigration with a net intake of 140-thousand people, which means we're going backwards on a per capita basis. 

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