New Zealand: Annual GDP to drop 6.3% in 2020 – Westpac

Economists at Westpac Institutional Bank have updated their economic and financial forecasts for New Zealand. NZD/USD is trading at 0.600.

Key quotes

“We expect annual GDP to drop 6.3% in 2020, and to rebound by only 4.3% in 2021. Such a weak economic outlook will require a massive monetary and fiscal response.”

“We expect Government debt will rise to 50% of GDP by 2024.” 

“Unemployment will peak at 9.5%, and we anticipate only a slow return to below 5%.”

“We forecast that the RBNZ will lower the OCR by 75 basis points to -0.5% in November this year.”