NZ finance minister plays down recession warning
Updated
New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen has played down a treasury report that the country is sliding into recession.
The Treasury says it believes the economy has shrunk for a second successive quarter, a sequence that would meet the most common definition of a recession.
The economy shrank 0.3 percent over the three months to March.
Official growth figures for the second quarter are due next month.
But Dr Culllen says tax cuts in October should feed demand back into the economy and, as the drought is over, expansion should pick up.
He says a fall in the New Zealand dollar would also help the export sector.
The last time New Zealand faced successive quarters of negative growth was more than ten years ago.
