2.8% economic growth in the second quarter

New Zealand’s economy posted solid growth of 2.8% in the second quarter, according to official figures released on Thursday, but the archipelago’s containment due to Covid-19 could weigh on that trend.

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This growth rate in New Zealand’s GDP surprised analysts, who had expected the figure to be less than half. This performance comes in part at the opening, between April and June, for “travel bubbleNo quarantine with Australia. “Lifting Covid-19-related restrictions and the +travel + bubble has given a boost to transport and retail activitiesJarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank said. This is amazing “bubbleThen it was suspended due to the outbreak of the epidemic.

In the first quarter, growth was 1.4%, below expectations, which amounted to 1.6%, according to the official statistics agency Stats NZStatistics. Over one year, the archipelago’s GDP increased by more than 17%, in particular reaching an exceptional increase of 13.9% in the third quarter after the archipelago’s first barrier was lifted.

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Jarrod Kerr has estimated that the three-week archipelago confinement that is still in place in Auckland will impact growth, stressing that second-quarter performance is already “old story». «We expect a 7% contraction in the third quarter due to containment…but this should be temporary and followed by a quick recovery in the last quarter of December“, he added.