1. Question No. 1—FinanceINGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister of FinanceORAL QUESTIONSQUESTIONS TO MINISTERSQuestion No. 1—Finance1. INGRID LEARY (Labour—Taieri) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): Today Statistics New Zealand reported GDP data for the December 2020 quarter. This shows that the New Zealand economy does remain resilient and among the best in the world despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data shows the volatility that the New Zealand economy has to deal with. Today's percentage drop follows the record 13.9 percent increase in the September quarter and an 11 percent drop in the June quarter. Statistics New Zealand reported that the size of the economy in 2020 was $322 billion. This was larger than in the year to December 2019 and above Treasury's half-yearly forecast published in December which had picked that the economy would be $307 billion at this point. Today's figures reinforce the steps the Government is taking to support the economy and secure the recovery from COVID-19. Our economy continues to lead the world off the back of our strong health response.Ingrid Leary: So how does New Zealand's economic performance in 2020 compare with other countries?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: The Stats New Zealand data shows New Zealand's economic performance continues to lead the world. On an internationally comparative measure New Zealand's real GDP in the December quarter was 0.9 percent below where it was a year ago. This is a stronger position than all the countries we routinely compare ourselves to. It compares to a 1.1 percent drop in Australia a 2.4 percent drop in the United States a 4.6 percent drop in the EU a 7.8 percent drop in the UK and an average drop across the OECD of 3.1 percent. New Zealand did take a different approach to dealing to COVID-19 than many other countries because our view is the best economic response is a strong public health response and today's data continues to support that.Ingrid Leary: What reactions has he seen to today's GDP reports?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: While there may be some who see a negative slant here ANZ's economists have acknowledged that the quarterly data will jump around as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues. They said the absolute story remains that this has been a very significant shock but the recovery thus far has been impressive. This was backed up by others including Westpac's economists who said New Zealand has had one of the swiftest economic rebounds from COVID-19 and is on firmer economic ground than many of our trading partner economies. That is thanks to the combination of generous monetary and fiscal stimulus and our effective containment of the virus on our shores. These factors are expected to continue supporting domestic demand over 2021." There will be continued volatility as the world feels the impact of COVID-19 but on this side of the House we're backing New Zealand businesses workers and the strength of our economy.Andrew Bayly: Can he confirm that the Government has borrowed $40 billion over the last 12 months and delivered the largest decline in GDP on record?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I can confirm that the Government has indeed borrowed significant amounts of money to ensure that New Zealanders stayed in their jobs to make sure that New Zealanders stayed healthy and I stand by those decisions Mr Bayly.Andrew Bayly: Can he confirm the construction sector contracted by nearly 10 percent in the final quarter of last year and this was due primarily to the lack of infrastructure investment including the 156 shovel-ready projects that still don't have shovels in the ground?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I absolutely cannot confirm the last part of the member's question. What we saw in the June quarter was a tremendous bounce up in construction activity. We continue to see high almost record levels of activity in the construction sector including tens of thousands more people employed in the construction sector right across New Zealand."