Finance Minister Nicola Willis said GDP growth showed there were better times ahead. Photo: RNZ
The retail, construction and manufacturing sectors are cautiously optimistic about recent growth in the country's economy.
Stats NZ data showed gross domestic product (GDP) - the broad measure of economic growth - rose 1.1 percent in the September quarter.
This followed a 1 percent fall in the June 2025 quarter.
The strongest sector was manufacturing, which grew 2.2 percent, and there were smaller positive contributions from real estate services, retail, and energy and water industries.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis believed Christmas had come early for New Zealanders, and said the growth showed there were better times ahead.
But her optimism was not shared by members of the public in Christchurch.
"I was made redundant about eight weeks ago for the first time in my life and I have an appointment with Work and Income tomorrow.
"I am pretty disappointed with the economy and what this government is doing," one woman said.
"I did what (Prime Minister Christopher) Luxon said, I got off the benefit and went to work and where did it get me... nowhere," another person said.
An economist says the fresh GDP figures show consistent economic growth, not seen for at least a year.
Infometrics chief forecaster and director Gareth Kiernan told Morning Report beyond the headline numbers are positive economic signs.
"You are seeing better activity in terms of business investment, a little bit of better activity in terms of household spending, and just signs that the domestic economy is starting to show a bit more life," he said.
Kiernan said the final element of an economic turnaround is improvement in the labour market.
"That would provide more confidence to households and consumers to get out spending, but expectations are that early signs of improvement in the labour market that we had over the last few months, those do build as well going forward and we do start to see even more broader base growth coming in future quarters."
'The economy is busy'
Helping the increase in GDP was a 3.3 percent growth in exports and a 3.2 percent rise in gross fixed capital formation.
"Businesses invested more in physical fixed assets in the September quarter. There were increases in transport equipment and plant, machinery, and equipment, supported by imports of related capital goods and motor vehicles," Attewell said.
Port of Auckland chief executive Roger Gray said this quarter is seeing a continuation of the volumes seen last quarter.
He said they have seen strong container volumes, particularly a significant increase in car imports and cement volumes - which is a key sign that the construction sector is starting to turn.
"We are very confident that this increase, in turn, is continuing on in this quarter too," he said.
"... The feeling you get from people is that the economy is busy [and] people are spending."
Among the strongest sectors was construction, rising 1.7 percent in the quarter.
Construction Industry Council executive director Tommy Honey said its members remained cautiously optimistic, but wanted to see a few more quarters of growth.
"When we had our members' meeting in late November, a number of our members reported in their areas that there was more work being requested, and more work coming online and that's always the important thing, it's not just how the economy is doing," he said.
Retail New Zealand chief executive Carolyn Young says her sector is still struggling. Photo: Supplied
Retail sales only improved slightly, up 1.2 percent.
Retail New Zealand chief executive Carolyn Young admitted the sector was still struggling.
"We haven't seen that growth in that September quarter, but when you see overall growth for the economy, it will eventually come through into retail.
"We are really dictated by consumer confidence at the moment and what confidence consumers have that they've got their job, that they've got security, and that they can afford the items they need to purchase."
Manufacturing also went up 2.2 percent and Employers and Manufacturers Association head of advocacy Alan McDonald said only time would tell if the economy was really on an upward trend.
"If we can get a couple quarters of positive, that will go a long way to restoring a lot more confidence across the business sector.
"As the figures point out there are some sectors are doing better than others, but some are still struggling a bit," he said.
McDonald said while the recovery signs were there, it did not take much to knock back confidence - and having a positive next few quarters would go a long way.
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