New Zealand Dwarf here.
We are in pretty decent shape. Unemployment is pretty low and job loss isn't that high. The main problem we had was that the housing market bubble burst pretty badly. No one is buying and houses are undervalued by around 50k or so, this means banks aren't loaning money (as there is no demand, however interest rates on loans and personal finances (including credit cards) dropped
).
However no one is spending any money on retail items , this depression has caused quite a saving mindset (encouraged by the previous labour government). So the retail sector has been slow and many retailers have gone bankrupt or cut prices to clear stock. Apart from that the finance sector took a pretty bad beating. South Canterbury finance (a major south island company) collapsed and had to be bailed out by the government. That shook the markets but they mostly managed to recover although NZ's finance image took a hit, with our rating being downgraded. The banks are all fine, being mostly stateowned or aussie and therefore supported by their respective Governments.
The government coffers took a hit as well (having to bail out South Canterbury Finance, as well as supporting several relief efforts after minor disasters (Canterbury Earthquake and Pike River Mine) as well as spending efforts to halt depression) but they remain in good shape as the previous labour government maintained decent budget surplus through their term. The current National Government has implemented some tax cuts and instituted spending plans to guide economy.
Agriculture and Farming remain as reliable as ever although our Kiwifruit Industry took a hit from a new disease. It helps that the global price for dairy products is at an all time high and if there's one thing New Zealand does, it's dairy. It helps that new export markets are opening up in the East (China and other asian countries). Wine export however ran into troubles with a huge harvest hitting profits (as prices came down) it didn't help that wine (being a luxury item) had lowered demand.
IT Sector it probably in the best shape of all sectors being a fast growing industry in NZ, the government recently finalised details of a major rollout of Fibre to most of the country and have mostly finished signing contracts with suppliers. The major ISP Telecom may still be involved but hasn't signalled it's plan yet. Oh and a internet filter was turned on but proved to be ineffective (although most isp's are on it) it remains to be seen if it has an actual prescence on the lives of most New Zealanders and hasn't received much press.
In summary we are doing pretty well, we are lucky in that we can piggyback of Australia (who has epic mineral wealth) and china (their economy growth is doing wonders for us). Also our major exports are mostly basic items like crops and Stock and some minerals, these are things that you need to buy so remain in demand during recessions.
Thats how you report fellow forumgoers
Seriously, I have no idea why I just wrote this.
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Topic: The economy (Read 8734 times)