Recession over by year end - PM

John Key

Prime Minister John Key believes New Zealand will be heading out of recession quite strongly by the end of the year.

He said on TVNZ's Q&A programme that trends from past recessions show that countries tend to emerge quickly once the economy starts to recover as there is huge potential for growth.

"My view is by the end of 2009 we won't be having negative quarters, 2010 will be an 'up' year, and 2011 will be a strong growth year," he said.

Key said Treasury and the Reserve Bank also have similar expectations.

Economists are predicting that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures out this Friday will indicate that New Zealand has undergone a fourth consecutive quarter of negative growth.