PHOTO: Economist Tony Alexander
An independent economist says New Zealand’s recession won’t last long despite gloomy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures.
Figures released on Thursday showed a 1.6 percent plummet in the country’s GDP in the March quarter, suffering its biggest fall since 1991.
Economist Tony Alexander says New Zealand’s economic recession in the wake of COVID-19 will “technically” be over in two weeks, but warns many companies will still have a lot of problems trying to recover financially next year.
“The recession will be over in two weeks in that you’ve got a negative for the March quarter, we’ll get a negative for the June quarter but we know that the economic activity is already recovering now. It recovered once we went from level 4 to 3 and then down to 2 and then down to 1, so [the] September quarter is going to be a big increase in the economy,” he told The AM Show on Friday. “Technically, it’s [the recession] over in two weeks – before you even know it.
“That’s where it’s difficult because we’re still going to be getting very negative data out for a number of months and the trick for people is; look through it. Think about a lot of the positive things happening out there.”
Alexander also gave his verdict on whether the COVID-19 economic fallout would be of a similar proportion to the Great Depression in the 1920s.
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