Economic development agencies CEDA and Whanganui and Partners alongside respective Council’s Palmerston North City Council, Manawatū District Council along with regional economic development programme Accelerate25 celebrate Manawatū-Wanganui receiving a five-star rating in ASB’s latest Regional Economic Scoreboard for economic performance in the March 2021 Quarter.
The New Zealand Regional Economic Scoreboard takes the latest quarterly regional statistics of New Zealand’s 16 Regional Council areas, with the fastest-growing regions gaining the highest ratings, and a good performance by the national economy which has raised the ratings of all regions. Ratings are updated every three months, and are based on measures, including employment, construction, retail trade, and house prices.
Strong contributors to this success include the rural sector paired with retail sales lifting 10.6% and boasting one of the hottest housing markets in NZ, with prices up 25.8% YoY even as residential construction also charges ahead (+40% YoY).
“It’s great to see in difficult COVID-19 times, that our regional Manawatu-Whanganui economy has held up well, says Palmy Mayor Grant Smith.
“Our regions diverse economy sees high consumer confidence with retail sales lifting 10.6%, the second highest in the country. Manawatū-Wanganui also boasts one of the hottest housing markets, coupled with the rural sector enjoying a strong run thanks to high commodity prices, all underpinning spending confidence”, adds Smith.
Manawatū Mayor Helen Worboys also reinforces the regions resilience and sector-based strengths despite some tough challenges.
“We’ve come through the challenge of COVID-19, as well as severe drought in the past 18 months due to our key economic drivers of agribusiness, food production and our defence sector and the people living and working in the Manawatū are key contributors to this success”, says Worboys.
Chief Executive of Whanganui & Partners Hannah Kelly says the region has been experiencing tremendous ongoing economic growth.
“The region has been booming for a sustained period of time now, as demonstrated by our consumer and tourism spending figures, jobs and income growth all exceeding national averages” says Kelly.
“This reinforces that our economy continues to recover and build from the effects of the pandemic, better than the New Zealand average across almost every economic indicator” says CEDA Chair, Malcolm Bailey.
“Our diversified economy has kept us stable amidst the turmoil, and the more than $7 billion dollars of infrastructure and construction projects planned and underway in the region in the next decade will ensure our region’s economic strength continues at pace and is sustainable.” adds Bailey.
For more information and to view the report please go to: www.asb.co.nz/content/dam/asb/documents/reports/asb-regional-economic-scoreboard/scoreboard-q1-2021.pdf
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