Damien Grant: We may be avoiding a technical recession, but we are failing to confront reality

Economic reporting has been focused on whether we are in an economic slump.

Whilst we may be avoiding a technical recession thanks to high net migration adding just enough to compensate for a falling individual income, we are failing to confront a wider reality.

We are going backwards.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand's budget faces its biggest test since the 1980s

Spare a thought for New Zealand’s Finance Minister, Nicola Willis as she prepares to deliver her first Budget later this month. The economic circumstances she has inherited from her predecessor, Grant Robertson, are the worst any Kiwi finance minister has faced since the tumultuous days of Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson in the 1980s and early 1990s.