NZ economy grows unexpectedly, revision reveals no recession

The news: New Zealand's technical recession is over with the release of new GDP data showing its economy grew by 0.9% in the last quarter.

The numbers: The sharp rebound in the June quarter was well above market expectation of 0.5%. Business services, public administration and housing costs were the biggest drivers of economic growth, according to Stats NZ, which released the figures on Thursday. NZ endured a short and shallow recession with two quarters of negative growth in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 of 0.5% and 0.06% respectively. Stats NZ revised the Q1 figure up to "flat", meaning the recession arguably did not happen. Annual growth in the year to June was 3.2%.

The context: Two major weather events impacted the economy greatly in Q1. In January, Auckland suffered through major flooding and in February, Cyclone Gabrielle's arrival devastated large areas of productive land. The Q2 2023 figures make up for that loss, and will include economic impact of the clean-up.