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NZ Weekly Economic Commentary - Learning the lessons of lockdown
New Zealand entered its Alert Level 4 lockdown in late March, with the restrictions gradually eased from late April through to early June as Covid-19 case numbers dropped to zero. With many services deemed ‘non-essential’ at Level 4, we estimate that about a third of the economy was effectively shut down for the first month of the quarter. However, it’s been clear for some time that as the alert level was reduced, economic activity quickly sprang back to life. We’ve been tracking a range of high-frequency indicators, including but not limited to electronic card spending, electricity demand, job ... (full story)