Talking to the Front Page podcast, Herald Business Editor-at-Large Liam Dann says he would have liked to have seen growth around 0.4%. You’ve got really strong dairy export prices and meat export prices, so that brings money into the country. Dann says the Government’s swift shift in focus from the GDP performance to the economic impact of the war was likely a strategic move, but was unsurprising given the weaker-than-expected GDP result. That’s when a technical recovery starts to feel to households like the economy is going backwards. He continues to hold out hope that the economy will get back on track.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 20, 2026 16:03 UTC