3.5% economic growth

Steven Joyce released:

The New Zealand economy continued to grow solidly in the September quarter, posting a higher than expected 1.1 per cent growth rate for the quarter and 3.5 per cent over the last year, Finance Minister Steven Joyce says.

“New Zealand’s focus on developing a strong and open economy is delivering good results for Kiwi families, especially relative to most of the rest of the developed world,” Mr Joyce says.

New Zealand’s economic growth in the year to September was the fifth strongest in the OECD ahead of Australia (1.8 per cent), the USA (1.6 per cent), Canada (1.3 per cent) and the Euro Area (1.7 per cent).

3.5% is very good growth.

Growth in the quarter was strong across 13 of 16 industries, including:

• Business services (up 2.0 per cent)

• Transport, postal, and warehousing (up 3.7 per cent)

• Construction (up 2.1 per cent)

• Manufacturing (up 1.2 per cent)

That manufactured manufacturing crisis is still going strong!