Wellington | New Zealand’s economy shrank much more than economists forecast in the second quarter, fuelling bets that the central bank may need to cut interest rates more aggressively than it currently projects.
Gross domestic product contracted 0.9 per cent in the three months to the end of June following a revised 0.9 per cent expansion in the first quarter, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday in Wellington. Economists expected a 0.3 per cent contraction.