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Nicola Willis promised Kiwis that there’s still “hope” despite the bleak outlook for the economy.��

Finance Minister Nicola Willis spoke to Mike Hosking on ��һ�ǿ�����talk ZB this morning after yesterday’s announcement of��a recession.��

Willis said very high inflation and rising interest rates had been prolonged.��

“There’s been a big hit to the growth forecast.”��

On Q1, Willis said, “There is hope.”��

“Both the Treasury and the [Reserve] Bank are forecasting growth this year.”��

She said tourism was coming back and the dairy price was okay, as examples of positive moves for the economy. Hosking disagreed that the dairy price was okay.��

“People focus on the headlines with the recession and the GDP. But that has happened despite a very fast-growing population and immigration,” Willis said.��

“So on a per-capita basis, on a per-person basis, the economy has barely grown in several years, and that is a real worry.”��

“There are always people that think there’s a money tree at the back of the garden.”��

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“I don’t think we have seen the value for the borrowing the last Government took on.”��

She said the Government cuts and restructuring won’t have a huge impact on the recession because the money will go to more “front-line” workers for Government organisations.��

Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.1 per cent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with the September quarter, which also shrank.��

Economists traditionally define a recession as two successive quarters in which the economy contracts.��

GDP per capita fell 0.7 per cent in the last three months of the year, Stats NZ said yesterday.��

Real gross national disposable income fell 1.4 per cent.��

Wholesale interest rates and the New Zealand dollar fell in response to the news.��

Yesterday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon outlined the Government’s plan for the next 100 days and��blamed the recession on Labour.��

“Sadly, the previous Government has borrowed more. We’ve got to face up to that. We’ve got nothing to show for it. We’ve got a big fiscal repair job to do,” Luxon said.��

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news.��

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