Economic Environment

The Manawatū District economy is distinct from our neighbours, our business and rural sectors are affected, and respond differently, to the ever changing markets and policies. We produce a quarterly dashboard report about our economic indicators to inform and assist the business, rural and residential communities.

December 2019

District economy remains strong but will be impacted by COVID-19

The performance of the District economy over 2019 was strong and the long term outlook for the District and wider Manawatū-Whanganui Region remains positive. The combined effects of the global spread of COVID-19 and drought conditions however, pose a short-term risk to the domestic and local economy over 2020.

COVID-19 will impact in particular on regional economies with greater dependency on tourism, tertiary education, export trade and imports of inputs to production. While tourism and international education are not key industries for the local economy, the Manawatū District is a strong producer of agri-food products and manufactures therefore we can expect economic activity to be negatively impacted by the global impacts of COVID-19.

Quarterly Economic Update | December 2019 (PDF file, 1.5 MB)