The Finance Minister is confident the economy will see growth by the end of the year.
A recession is looking more likely after figures out yesterday showed the economy contracted by 0.6 percent in the three months to the end of December - worse than most forecasts.
But Grant Robertson told Morning Report the government must balance economic policy with looking after people.
"I'm still confident in the resilience of the New Zealand economy. I still think by year end you're going to be seeing that the New Zealand economy will be growing. But we do have a difficult period that we all have to get through now."
Robertson says government spending will fall as the country moves on from the pandemic.
