3. Question No. 3—FinanceGREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 3—Finance3. GREG O'CONNOR (Labour—Ōhāriu) to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): On Friday Treasury released the latest New Zealand Activity Index for July. It showed a continued bounce in activity in the economy. Activity in July was about 2 percent higher than the same time last year its highest annual increase since February 2019. This comes on the back of a 0.6 percent increase in June. Electronic card transactions and traffic movements were particularly strong: both up 5 percent and 10 percent on July last year. This data shows the continued strength of the New Zealand economy and the benefits of eliminating the community transmission so that the economy can operate as freely as possible in the context of a global pandemic. Greg O'Connor: What reports has he seen on the recent performance of different sectors of the New Zealand economy? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: BNZ and BusinessNZ released their latest Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) and Performance of Services Index (PSI) for July on Friday and Monday respectively. The seasonally adjusted PMI was 58.8 percent up 2.6 points from June and the highest result since April 2018. The key indices of new orders at 67.4 and production at 61.4 showed very positive expansion although employment did remain weak. Similarly the PSI for July was 54.3 the same as June continuing the solid return to expansion seen since previous lockdown restrictions were eased. Both the PMI and PSI results were ahead of many of our international counterparts including Australia the US Japan and China. This is yet more data which shows the comparative advantage and resilience of the New Zealand economy. While the current resurgence is obviously presenting economic challenges our strategy of going hard and early to contain outbreaks while cushioning the blow to businesses will put the economy in a better position to bounce back soon. Greg O'Connor: What reports has he seen on the economic impact of the Government's strategy of going hard and early against COVID-19? Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I've seen a number of recent comments on the economic benefits of the Government's strategy for managing COVID-19. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said that when comparing indicators with other countries New Zealand's experience appears to bear out the benefit of eliminating community transmission." For example: "Weekly jobs in New Zealand have been tracking 6 per cent higher than Australia. Spending at shops has been tracking higher than the US." As Mr Eaqub said "If we repeat our health and economic experience of the last lockdown we will come out better off economically without littering our conscience with lost lives." Likewise Westpac economists have said that "Countries that have implemented successful lockdowns"—such as China—"are generally doing … better … than countries that have not—illustrating that the 'choice' between 'health and economy' was always a false dichotomy." I agree with these commentators that the best economic response is a public health response. That is why once again we have gone hard and early and we are well placed to recover from this particular resurgence."