{"id":602742,"date":"2026-09-17T01:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/602742\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:38:12","slug":"gdp-economy-grows-0-2-in-june-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/602742\/","title":{"rendered":"GDP: Economy grows 0.2% in June quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand’s economy grew 0.2% in the June quarter, according to new GDP figures from Stats NZ. <\/p>\n

In the 12 months to June, GDP rose 1.7%. GDP per capita rose 0.1% while real gross national disposable income fell 0.4%.<\/p>\n

Expenditure on GDP rose 0.4% in the three months to June, off the back of a 1.1% rise in the previous quarter. In the 12 months to June, expenditure on GDP rose 2.2% compared to the same period in 2025. <\/p>\n

Stats NZ also revised the previous March quarter figure from 0.8% growth to 0.9%. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 0.2% growth in economic activity in the June 2026 quarter reflects mixed results, with increases in nine out of 16 industries,\u201d general manager and macroeconomic spokesperson Jason Attewell said.<\/p>\n

Construction was up 2.7% in the quarter, the largest upward contributor driven by construction services and residential building construction. <\/p>\n

\u201cAn increase in residential building activity contributed to the overall growth in the construction industry in the June 2026 quarter,\u201d Attewell said.<\/p>\n

Other drivers included public administration and safety, which were up 2%, driven by central government administration and justice.<\/p>\n

Healthcare and social assistance rose 0.8%, driven mainly by central government healthcare and social assistance, and private sector residential care services and social assistance. <\/p>\n

Wholesale trade was up 1.3%, driven by the wholesaling of machinery, equipment, and other goods. <\/p>\n

Transport, postal, and warehousing was the biggest downward driver, falling 1.7%. This was driven by a decline in road transport and support services.<\/p>\n

Retail trade and accommodation were also down 1%, driven by accommodation and food and beverage services.<\/p>\n

Export volumes rose 3.3% in the June quarter. Meat exports were up 10.3%, with other food, beverages, and tobacco up 7.2%. Dairy exports were up 7.2%. <\/p>\n

\u201cUS demand for New Zealand beef contributed to the increase in meat exports in the June 2026 quarter,\u201d Attewell said.<\/p>\n

Import volumes fell 0.8%, driven by imports of services (down 3.7%), travel services (down 6.4%), and transport services (down 7.5%). <\/p>\n

Gross fixed capital formation (or investments in fixed assets) rose 1.5%, driven by a 4.4% increase in spending on residential building. <\/p>\n

Willis says economy ‘defying expectations’, Labour says Kiwis ‘going backwards’<\/p>\n

\"Finance<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced the government’s target to cut about 8,700 public service jobs by mid-2029. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said New Zealand’s economy was “defying expectations”. <\/p>\n

“The first half of this year was tough as families and businesses dealt with a sharp spike in fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

“The Reserve Bank had pencilled in flat growth for the June quarter, and many economists had been picking the economy to shrink. Instead, it grew.<\/p>\n

\u201cA growing economy means more jobs and higher wages. It means more money coming into communities. It means more doctors, nurses and teachers, and better schools and hospitals.”<\/p>\n

She said economic recovery was “well underway”. <\/p>\n

Labour’s finance and economy spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said New Zealanders were “worse off” today than they were three years ago. <\/p>\n

“Real GDP was $54,635 per person when Labour left office, it\u2019s now $53,375. Nicola Willis can spin herself dizzy, but New Zealanders know the truth: they\u2019re working harder, but still going backwards.”<\/p>\n

“National has left New Zealand weaker and more exposed when global shocks hit. Instead of a plan, all New Zealanders got was more cuts, more chaos, and higher prices.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand’s economy grew 0.2% in the June quarter, according to new GDP figures from Stats NZ. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-602742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}