NZ: Q3 GDP rose by 0.7% – Westpac

Michael Gordon, senior economist at Westpac, notes that the New Zealand’s GDP rose by 0.7% in the September quarter, a stronger than expected rebound after a sharp slowdown in the first half of the year.

Key Quotes

“The annual revisions to the national accounts have revealed a substantially different picture of the economy’s recent performance.”

“Rather than a gradual slowdown in growth over the course of the last two years, the economy appears to have continued to grow at a solid pace in 2018 before hitting a two-quarter pothole in 2019.”

“A range of indicators suggesting that momentum has picked up again in the last few months.”

“We expect growth to return to around a 3% annualised pace next year.”

“On balance, the revised GDP figures suggest that the economy has been running a little hotter than the Reserve Bank thought, making further OCR cuts less likely.”