GDP numbers show economic worries are real and need a solution – CTU
Data released by Stats NZ today showed that the size of the economy fell -0.2% in the June Quarter. CTU Economist Craig Renney said “GDP in June was smaller than June 2023 – meaning no real growth in the economy for at least a year. GDP per capita has been falling since September 2022, with a steeper fall than that found during the Great Financial Crisis.”
“The fact that we are back again in economic decline should be of real concern to those in charge of the economy, and should cause a rethink. Unemployment is rising quickly. Activity in retail trade and wholesale trade has been in decline since 2022. Business investment is lower than this time last year. Building construction fell. Government investment is also falling, with spending being lower than this time last year. There is no driver of growth in the current data to lead the recovery.”
“With data as bad as this, there should be a plan to deliver growth. Every other country highlighted by Statistics New Zealand in its papers saw growth in June 2024. Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, UK and the US. None of these countries is proposing the kind of economic and fiscal approach currently being delivered in New Zealand. We are at risk of making the currently bad situation worse.”
“With jobs being lost across Aotearoa, and with falling GDP, this is the time to rethink what we are doing. Softer growth and lower interest rates will feed through to lower tax revenues, putting the governments books further at risk. Other countries are seeing growth, and we need to be building a more sustainable economy in the future. When you are in a hole you should generally stop digging. That calls for renewed investment in New Zealand – not less.”
“There are things the government could be doing to make sure that the economy returns to growth, and that the recovery benefits all New Zealanders. We have an energy crisis costing jobs rights now. There are building sites lying idle and workers heading overseas for work. There are stalled school rebuilding projects. Rebuilding Aotearoa now will help with the recovery and make our growth less inflationary when it returns. Its time to change economic track.”
No doubt the Coalition of Calamity (CoC), NatsACT & Winston First, will blame the previous Labour Green government – and, I agree, they must take some of the blame. However, the CoC have gutted the Public Service claiming efficiency and productivity will somehow magically increase whilst unemployment snowballs out of control.
Coc have also initiated a war against Maori and lower income people and yet they are going to improve outcomes for both – again the magnitude of this oxymoron is something only Trumpian thinkers might consider an improvement in outcomes.
CoC have shafted both Health and Education sectors in NZ whilst seeking to introduce new curriculum at breakneck pace along with the imposition of costly Charter Schools with no evidence of success elsewhere. The idiotic doctrine of neoliberalism is strong with the CoC – this is also evidenced in the rolling back of emissions targets, smoking reductions and elimination targets and wellbeing targets – replaced by much less ambitions targets which will leave us much worse off – just so long as they can pack more Maori and poor folk into prisons, remove culturally appropriate health services for Maori, reduce support and care for those with mental health issues, and allowing high power automatic weapons back for public ‘consumption’.
Now we have the increasingly crappy economic situation created largely by the CoC who tell us with smiling faces that all is good and they are meeting all their outcome targets!
It would be funny if not so impacting on most Kiwis, but especially Maori and the poor.
Good work CoC!
This government inherited a AAA+ economy so whats their problem ?.The problem is they were so obsessed with cancelling anything from the previous government becaus they had dog whistled for the 3 years previous .Now they are busy bending over for the river of filth party and the rich white cunts party that they have really fucked up and we are circling the plug hole faster each day .
This lays squarely at the feet of the appalling Nicola Willis. Clearly incapable and way out of her depth. She was warned about tax cuts for the rich and rebates for landlords but no, bulldozed ahead with her dictatorship style and as we knew would happen, she fucked the country.
Looking like a Train Wreck under this NACTACTNZF COC ???
It’s a train wreck hanging off a broken viaduct that they failed to do maintenance on…
The Coalition of Chaos …just living up to its name… taking the country back….wards……at an alarming rate.
Luxon , Willis, Seymore , Peters /Jones….All chest beating, bravado, self congratulatory bullshit talk…yet could not be more clueless!!
Hmmm…now where have we seen this before ?.. Oh yes.. Key, English and Joyce…and whose there in behind the scenes at the moment…Key, English and Joyce!
GDP is the sum of goods, bads, and neutrals. The GDP dropping might be a drop in the bads. Sure!
Where is the measure of benefit to people?
The decline goes back to 2022.One reason why Labour lost the election was they had nothing to show the voters as a plus for them running the economy.National took over a country with a bloated Civil service and inflation destroying people’s lives .It takes time to change course but inflation is down and the economy will grow over the next 2 years given National another 3 years
Another false claim the economy was in growth for the time of the last government and had one of the lowest debt levels in the OECD .Even a school kid knows you have to spend money to make money .Now we are heading to high unemployment which is the cause of many businesses closing .I f your customers are not working they cant be spending .People blame interest rates which are where they should be .We need people to save but if interest rates drop so do deposit rates which in turn leads to lower deposits which in turn leads to lower investment due to low returns .The previous government maintained a positive economy through a major world down turn way more severe than anything these incompetent clowns will ever face .
Trevor you have lost it. Inflation was already on the way down before they laid off thousands. Now we have higher unemployment and most everything is still f’ing expensive. Tax breaks for landlords but rents go up regardless. Other tax relief has just been converted to higher fees. This government is making f’ing stupid decisions. The ferry fiasco is probably in the top three disasters and defies logic. The decision is that bad it makes you suspicious.
If they had kept all the tradies busy building needed houses the economy would be in positive territory.But no we will abandon every sensible thing the previous government had in play .Even the work on the ferry terminals would have fed into current GDP .
Maybe instead of a tunnel under wellington we should build one under cook straight as the way this government is going there will be no ferries soon. They will be all tied up in dock or scuttled for divers to look at .Even the privately owned ones are starting to crap out and the new docks would have been useful for them as well .Willis will buy a couple of second hand cruise liners or some other useless pieces of scrap metal for a stupid inflated price way more than the 3 billion and try to dress them as a bargain .The last government makes these clowns look real great as we continue the decent towards the bottom of the cliff gaining more speed each day .