We have made it to 2025! Happy New Year to all our readers.
At Infometrics, we are hard at work engaged in updating our regional and sector data, while our forecasting team is in the process of preparing upcoming forecasts, which are scheduled for release at the end of January.
We start this newsletter with Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan's discussion of the economic year ahead in his regular, start-of-the-year, "From the beach" article.
CE and Principal Economist Brad Olsen analyses the quality of data reporting concerning aggregates, a crucial metric for the county's infrastructure development pipeline.
And although the weather has been less than favorable in some parts of the country, there remains ample opportunity for warmer conditions to arrive, making an after-work or weekend swim a possibility. Economist Matthew Allman's "Chart of the Month" examines swimmability data available in Infometrics Regional Economic Profile.
Featured article
A recovery for the New Zealand economy appears likely this year. Nevertheless, the exact timing is uncertain, and there are numerous persistent concerns suggesting that the speed of the recovery, once it begins, may be somewhat limited.
“Survive until 2025” was the oft-repeated mantra throughout last year as households grappled with high mortgage rates, businesses saw demand fall away, and spending across the economy was down.
Aggregates are important. But how important is clouded by a lack of quality data being collected. Based on current production figures and survey response rates, the actual amount of aggregates produced over the last 12 years might be 49% higher than reported.
Swimming at our picturesque beaches, rivers and lakes is a Kiwi summer staple as many of us have time off in the summer months. Sometimes our favourite swimming spots can become contaminated with unsafe levels of organisms such as E.
Chief Executive and Principal Economist Brad Olsen and Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan discuss: 15 January: NZ Dollar falls as US trends dominate the start of 2025
15 January: Improving spending trends, with higher Boxing Day spending
