Economic Weekly: Looking beyond the technicalities
- Technically NZ is in a recession by the slimmest of margins, using the definition of two quarters of consecutive contraction in GDP. In total GDP shrank by 0.8 percentage points over 2022 Q4 (-0.7%) and 2023 Q1 (-0.1%)
- Broadly, the decline is primarily driven by the RBNZ leaning against strong inflation pressures, with likely short-term disruption from the disastrous weather thrown in
- The goods, services and primary sectors all registered overall declines, with the composition largely as expected
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Mark Smith
Senior Economist
Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.
His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.
Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.
When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.
- Email: Mark
