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Annual inflation did not budge in December 2022. But it was below expectations, so how strongly will this impact the next OCR announcement?

Treasury forecasts suggest no easing of pressures currently ravaging the economy. Key economic indicators point towards a tough couple of years ahead. 

The 2023 Budget Policy Statement makes the Government’s priority clear as it heads into the election year – reduce inflation. 

Monetary policy is a complex, yet blunt tool. Does a dual mandate simply further take away from monetary policy serving its primary purpose?

Konrad and Hillmarè sit down for a chat about what 65 years in business looked like for BERL

For the September 2022 year, inflation in producers’ input and output prices have remained steady at record high levels. 

With seemingly no more room to grow, the labour market continues to surprise on the upside. 

We look at data on business births and business turnover to uncover which industries have lowest barriers to entry.

For our 65th birthday, we look at how our exports have changed since 1957.

In this article, we analyse the evidence for the claims made in the Housing Technical Working Group’s newest report.

Households continue to grapple with high inflation. And the newly released consumer price index suggests no easing of this challenge.

Have you ever wondered what your life would have looked like in another era? For migrant women, 1950s New Zealand would have been an incredibly inhospitable place.

Economic activity rebounds as services and exports perform strongly. We may have avoided a recession, but the outlook remains blurry.

In 1994, BERL published forecasts for GDP and employment growth over the five years between 1994 to 1999. How well did we do? 

Natural gas prices are rising rapidly in Europe, leading to rises in the prices of energy, steel, zinc, and fertiliser.

The Ministry of Education will replace the decile system with the new Equity Index. Will this new Equity Index lead to more equitable allocation of funding to schools?

While unemployment is low, wages are falling far behind inflation. This tight labour market is also a challenge for employers, as the brain drain continues.

Completely unrecognisable from the early 1900s, the rise of craft and low-alcohol beer as niche sub-sectors has significantly shifted New Zealand’s beer industry.

Consumer confidence is at the lowest it’s been since 1988. Households have been battered by tough economic conditions and fear it will get worse.

The social impacts of COVID-19 are evident in the latest wellbeing statistics.

New Zealand and the EU have concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement. We will explore what the potential gains and losses for New Zealand are from this agreement.

We look at broad movements in the aggregated financial statistics of businesses and are surprised at what we find.

GDP shrank by 0.2 percent in the March 2022 quarter. Omicron-related factors continue to cloud the outlook.

The value of both exports and imports has been rising, but export volumes are dropping. The result is that the balance of trade has slipped further into deficit.

Business price inflation has risen rapidly to levels not seen since the Global Financial Crisis. Will it jump past 10 percent in 2022?

Unemployment has fallen to very low levels during the time of COVID-19. Which groups in the population have benefitted the most? And can low unemployment last?

How has COVID affected NZ’s labour force? Despite the turmoil the pandemic has caused, there has been remarkable stability. But there are challenges ahead.

New Zealand released its first Emissions Reduction Plan, which sets out how we will meet our first emissions budget. The plan seems ambitious and not entirely convincing.

We summarise what we liked and what could have been better in Budget 2022.

The Black Budget reminds us that budgets can destroy political careers. This article looks at the Black Budget to understand why it was so unpopular.