Maintaining momentum

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Cyclone Gabrielle heavily disrupted the Tairāwhiti economy over the first quarter of 2023 and while this hampered usual activity levels, economic consultancy Infometrics says various indicators show the regional economy had been able to maintain “remarkable momentum”.

The latest Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor shows Tairāwhiti saw a fall in economic activity over the first three months of the year, mainly due to the digital and physical isolation in mid-February in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Regional Gross Domestic Product growth was provisionally up by 1.5 percent for the year to March 2023 compared to a year earlier — however, that was lower than the national average annual growth of 2.9 percent.

Spending activity was up 1.9 percent in the March quarter compared to a year earlier. That spending growth was the weakest across all regions of New Zealand and comes as prices have still been rising — with inflation of 6.7 percent over the 12 months to March 2023.

Infometrics says other indicators suggest that spending fell in January and February but rebounded in March as recovery efforts were under way.

Annual card spending over the 12 months to March rose by 5.8 percent, much slower than the national increase of 11.6 percent.

Primary sector output was heavily hit by Cyclone Gabrielle, with crops and farmland destroyed, manufacturing and processing sites damaged or limited by water restrictions, and some transport routes unusable.

Meat processing was virtually non-existent for a time, with total livestock kills across Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay falling by 18 percent in the first quarter.

Forestry activity was also limited due to the cyclone, other wet weather effects and weaker demand out of China.

The region’s employment levels were lower at the start of this year compared to the beginning of last year, as back-to-back weather events and then Cyclone Gabrielle limited jobs activity. March employment saw some recovery in filled jobs numbers.

Job ads were down around 5 percent from a year ago. Health and education employment in Tairāwhiti was higher than a year ago, but there have been falls in employment across the primary sector, wholesaling and transport industries.

Filled jobs held by Tairāwhiti residents fell 0.4 percent on average in the March quarter, dragging annual average filled jobs growth down to 0.7 percent per annum compared to the national average increase of 2.2 percent.

Jobseeker support recipients in the region decreased by 11.4 percent compared to a year earlier — greater than the national decline of 9.4 percent.

Tourism expenditure in Tairāwhiti increased by 10.1 percent on the previous year; however, this compares with an increase of 30.5 percent nationwide.

A total of 51 new residential building consents were issued in Tairāwhiti in the March 2023 quarter compared with 39 in the same quarter last year.

On an annual basis, the number of consents for the region decreased by 4.9 percent on the same period the previous year, while nationally, residential consents were down by 7.9 percent for the same period.

Non-residential building consents to the value of $50.5 million were issued in Tairāwhiti during the year to March 2023. The consent value decreased by 44.7 percent compared to a year earlier.

The average house value was down by 4.7 percent in March 2023 compared to a year earlier, although the decline was not as large as across New Zealand (11.4 percent). House sales in Tairāwhiti decreased by 25.4 percent compared to the year earlier, while the national decline was 27.6 percent.

Provisional Gross Domestic Product was $2,497 million in Tairāwhiti for the year to March 2023 (2022 prices).

Annual GDP growth in Tairāwhiti peaked at 9.9 percent in the year to June 2021.

■  The full Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor Tairāwhiti March 2023 is available on the Trust Tairāwhiti website.