In a meeting room on Lambton Quay, a paper is on its eleventh draft. It is about whether the public service should adopt AI. Read more
Budget 2026 was not a typical election year budget. Instead of breaking out the pork barrel, Finance Minister Nicola Willis brought forward New Zealand’s projected return to surplus by a year, even if the projection rests on some bold assumptions. Read more
To most New Zealanders in 2026, slavery sounds like a relic of past centuries and faraway places. Unfortunately, it is not. Read more
For forty years, New Zealanders have been told that fewer councils mean better government, and for forty years, the evidence has refused to oblige. Until 1989, New Zealand had around 850 elected local government bodies. Read more
| GDP Quarterly Change: | 0.68% |
|---|---|
| GDP Annual Change: | 1.34% |
| Inflation: | 3.12% |
| Optimal OCR: | 2.37% |
| Optimal OCR Gap: | 0.11% |
| Forecasted OCR Change: | 0.25% |