New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.2% in the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.
It means NZ is out of recession.
It follows two decreases in the December and September 2023 quarters, which meant the country was in recession.
A recession is generally defined as two successive quarters where the economy contracts.
National accounts industry and production senior manager Ruvani Ratnayake said across the quarter, there was a “range of results at an industry level”, with eight out of 16 industries rising.
The rises were seen in rental, hiring, and real estate services (up 0.9%), and electricity generation drove a 2.9% increase across electricity, gas, water, and waste services.
There were also falls in several industries, including construction, business services, and manufacturing.
“While manufacturing fell overall, food and beverage manufacturing was up.
“This was reflected in a rise of dairy product exports, such as milk powder,” Ratnayake said.
GDP per capita dropped by 0.3% in the quarter, making it the sixth annual quarterly fall. Annually, GDP per capita fell 2.4%.
The expenditure measure of GDP grew by 0.1% and was driven by household and overseas visitor spending – which rose by 0.8%.
The downward contributions to the expenditure measure were caused by a 6.1% rise in imports and a 1.3% fall in gross fixed capital information.
Before today's update, economists were divided on whether the economy had grown or shrunk over the first three months of 2024.
Westpac, BNZ and Kiwibank suggested another contraction, while ANZ and ASB forecast limited growth.
Earlier this week, the Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index fell 11 points in the June quarter to a level of 82.2, signalling more households were pessimistic about the economic landscape than those who were optimistic.
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said the drop left confidence about the economic outlook "only modestly above historic lows".
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