The latest GDP figures revealed that economic growth in the early part of the year was a touch firmer than we had expected. However, that’s still left us with a picture of weak economic activity, and recent indicators point to ongoing softness through the middle part of this year. Questions remain about the persistence in inflation and what that means for the RBNZ’s future policy stance. New Zealand’s economy grew by 0.2% in the March quarter. While that’s certainly not strong growth, it was ahead of the 0.2% contraction that we had been expecting. It also means that New Zealand has narrowly avoided slipping back ... (full story)