The recession is now official

Stats NZ confirmed today the New Zealand is in recession for the first time since the Asian crisis in 1998.

The economy in the last two quarters is around $300 million smaller than the last quarter of 2007.

But the worst may yet be to come. The second quarter drop was 0.2%. And expectations for the third quarter are now as bad as a 0.5% drop. That would be a 1% drop over nine months.