It may feel like we are being buffeted by forces beyond our control. While New Zealand’s rate of inflation remains below the OECD average, high global inflation is biting into Kiwi household budgets and families are feeling that pinch.Ģ023 is going to be a tough year for New Zealanders. As an open trading economy we are affected by this global volatility. Europe is experiencing its most difficult winter since the Second World War, with energy prices 10 times higher than before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inflation at 8.5 percent. The United Kingdom is already in recession. The IMF has warned the worst is yet to come, with a third of the world forecast to be in recession this year. Overall, the International Monetary Fund forecast global economic growth to slow to 2.9 percent in 2023. In response more than 90 central banks have lifted interest rates to combat inflation and the outlook for global growth is deteriorating. Trade disputes, an energy crisis, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated the post-pandemic supply shock leading to significant increases to the cost of energy, food and materials around the world. A number of businesses have been either completely wiped out or forced to close.Īt the same time, in the wake of the most significant and consequential global challenge in decades, the world faces a new challenge: a pandemic of inflation. There has been widespread damage to farms, processing and pack house facilities and infrastructure, as well as losses across the horticulture, vegetable, forestry, stock and feed industries. Many businesses and the primary sector in the affected regions have been hard hit by Cyclone Gabrielle. More than 1300 people were in civil defence centres overnight. Electricity is still out to an estimated 12,000 people and telecommunications services are still unreliable in many affected areas. Today many areas are still in an emergency response mode with food, water, fuel and supplies having to be dropped off. No words can express the anxiety and grief you are experiencing. Our thoughts are with the eleven people who have lost their lives, their families and friends, and the many families who have the agonising wait to speak to those unaccounted for or without communication. The severity and the breadth of the damage we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation, leading to a national state of emergency being declared for only the third time in our history. Many New Zealanders are doing it tough as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Auckland floods, and the difficult economic headwinds we face.Ĭyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen this century. This Statement is being presented at a difficult time for our country.
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