New Zealand's economy

"Happy days may not lastThe world economy may have entered choppy waters, but New Zealand appears hardly to have noticed just yet. Economic growth picked up in the three months to December, boosted by dairy and oil exports and by robust business investment. The good times are unlikely to last for much longer, however. The economy will slow sharply under the weight of high interest rates and fuel prices in 2008, and monetary-policy options will be limited.Data released by Statistics New Zealand, the government's statistical office, on March 28th show that economic growth in output terms (the government's preferred indicator) picked up to 1% in the three months to December, from 0.5% in the previous quarter. Expenditure-based GDP grew by 0.8% in real terms in the same period, up from 0.3% in the quarter to September. The data also paint an encouraging picture of broad-based growth. Very few areas of the economy?with the notable exception of housing investment?did badly. ..." (2008-3-28)

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