A key speaker at National's weekend conference was Sir John Key.

The former Prime Minister warned the global economy is starting to slow down and that the current Government isn't equipped to deal with it.

But Cameron Bagrie from Bagrie Economics says the world is due for a slowdown which usually comes every 10 or 11 years.

He says New Zealand is actually in a decent position to weather one.

Bagrie told Kate Hawkesby there are some global cracks starting to appear.

"The warning signs are there but it doesn't mean it's imminent. You know the world's most powerful economy, good old uncle Sam, America, is still powering on sort of ok, but it's not what you would call a low risk environment so we're on notice."

An economist believes we're in a decent position to weather a global financial storm.

He says we usually get knocked around during global recessions and the last two we've been in bad financial positions heading into them.

He thinks this time, if things start to go pear-shaped, we have good momentum and enough levers to pull to keep things well afloat.

"The Reserve Bank could cut interest rates, the government's got a fair amount of manoeuvrability because we've got pretty low levels of debt and if things start to go wrong, particularly in regards to China - our biggest trading partner - you're going to see the New Zealand dollar move down at a pretty fair clip and that will help out export sector."

LISTEN ABOVE AS CAMERON BAGRIE TALKS TO KATE HAWKESBY