New Zealand is officially in its first recession for 11 years, a casualty of the Covid fallout hammering economies around the world.
This country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by a record 12.2 per cent in the June quarter as the Covid-19 lockdown and border closures stalled economic output.
It was the second successive quarter of negative growth - the technical measure of a recession.
Economists had been forecasting a fall of between 11 per cent and 14 per cent.
However forecasts had improved dramatically since the closure of boarders and initial lockdown.
At the time Treasury officials forecast a 23.5 per cent drop over the period.
More recently ANZ economists revised their pick - from a fall of 17.5 per cent to a fall of 12.5 per cent.
Under the current GDP framework - formulated in 1987 - New Zealand's biggest fall was a 2.4 per cent decline in the March 1991 quarter.
Stats NZ says that under the previous framework, which dates back to 1955, the largest fall was 4.4 per cent - in December 1977.
New Zealand's last recession ended in the June quarter of 2009.
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