RECOVERY STRENGTHENS BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN
The economy grew solidly in the final quarter of last year which is great news for the Bay. It was also good to see unemployment statistics falling in February with Hawke Bay leading the charge, largely due to seasonal employment. Employers are to be congratulated through what remains a pretty difficult trading period.
Despite these early signs more work is needed to ensure a sustainable recovery that creates jobs and lifts the incomes of New Zealand families..
GDP data issued recently shows the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, broadly in line with expectations. Growth was led by the manufacturing sector, which expanded for the first time in almost two years.
A small revision pushed growth in the September quarter to 0.3 per cent, but the economy contracted by 1.6 per cent in 2009 compared with the year before.
These figures are another step on the road to recovery, but we are still regaining ground lost during the global crisis and New Zealand's own recession which started in early 2008.
Our economy faces numerous challenges and that is reflected in consumer confidence figures which have dipped in the first part of this year.
Those challenges include a still fragile global recovery and serious imbalances in our economy built up from years of rampant government growth and too much borrowing for housing and consumer spending.
Those imbalances have held back the export sector for several years and meant real per capita GDP was actually negative in the three years to September, 2008 – at a time when other economies were growing strongly.
The Government is committed to tackling these challenges. The Budget in May will set out the next steps to lift economic growth by tilting the playing field towards productive investment, exports and new jobs. From my perspective this has to be a good thing for the Bay. We are an export dependent economy so the more we can tilt the economy in this direction the better.
The economy grew solidly in the final quarter of last year which is great news for the Bay. It was also good to see unemployment statistics falling in February with Hawke Bay leading the charge, largely due to seasonal employment. Employers are to be congratulated through what remains a pretty difficult trading period.
Despite these early signs more work is needed to ensure a sustainable recovery that creates jobs and lifts the incomes of New Zealand families..
GDP data issued recently shows the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, broadly in line with expectations. Growth was led by the manufacturing sector, which expanded for the first time in almost two years.
A small revision pushed growth in the September quarter to 0.3 per cent, but the economy contracted by 1.6 per cent in 2009 compared with the year before.
These figures are another step on the road to recovery, but we are still regaining ground lost during the global crisis and New Zealand's own recession which started in early 2008.
Our economy faces numerous challenges and that is reflected in consumer confidence figures which have dipped in the first part of this year.
Those challenges include a still fragile global recovery and serious imbalances in our economy built up from years of rampant government growth and too much borrowing for housing and consumer spending.
Those imbalances have held back the export sector for several years and meant real per capita GDP was actually negative in the three years to September, 2008 – at a time when other economies were growing strongly.
The Government is committed to tackling these challenges. The Budget in May will set out the next steps to lift economic growth by tilting the playing field towards productive investment, exports and new jobs. From my perspective this has to be a good thing for the Bay. We are an export dependent economy so the more we can tilt the economy in this direction the better.
