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ANZ chief economist: Hurt for the economy is still to come

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 17 Sep 2020, 6:28PM
The lack of summer tourists will further harm the economy. (Photo / Getty)
The lack of summer tourists will further harm the economy. (Photo / Getty)

ANZ chief economist: Hurt for the economy is still to come

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 17 Sep 2020, 6:28PM

The chief economist of one of New Zealand's top banks says the country might not rebound from the record low of June's quarter., as well as we'd like.  

New Zealand is officially in a recession for the first time in 11 years, with a record quarterly GDP fall for June.

Stats NZ has revealed the economy contracted 12.2 percent between April and June, when the country was locked down to fight covid-19.

The decline in economic activity is the highest every recorded.

It was larger than Australia's, which suffered a seven-percent drop during a similar period.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says what's important is where we go from here.

"Not unexpected, but as I've said, for me it's not just what that quarter's showing us, it's about the rebound thereafter."

Chief Economist at ANZ Bank Sharon Zollner told Heather Du Plessis-Allan the lockdown was only the beginning - and there's still some hurt to come. 

"The pain from the closed border is only really starting to be felt now.

"Tourism is highly seasonal, and that's really only going to start hurting towards the end of the year when those summer tourists don't arrive." 

She says that the renewed lockdown will dampen quarter 3, which will see a lot return but not all of it. 

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