Adrian Orr isn’t the problem As a Kiwi expat looking from afar at the big picture of trends in the New Zealand economy since Covid , it is puzzling to see that blame is being directed at the Reserve Bank in general, and Adrian Orr in particular , for its current dismal state. If there is blame to be ascribed to the economic malaise inflicting the country, in my opinion the leadership and policies of the prior Labour -led Government during the Covid crisis bear the most responsibility. It seems to me that their most egregious act was to shut down international tourism , the most important generator of income to the New Zealand economy, for two years, with a very slow attempt to ramp it up over a third year.
It has still not recovered to its pre-Covid levels. The relative equivalent to the US economy would have been if the oil and gas export and refining industry (the USA’s biggest money-earner) had been shut down for three years. However, in the US, after the Covid epidemic started, there was an eight-week shutdown of most businesses, followed by a recovery over 10 months.
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