The global COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the New Zealand economy. New Zealand has a mixed economy – a free market with some state ownership and control. In mid-March 2020, the New Zealand Government imposed a four-tier alert level system, which placed much of the country's economy into lockdown with the exception of "essential services" such as supermarkets. Due to the success of the Government's elimination strategy, lockdown restrictions on various economic activities were progressively lifted between April and June 2020.
Although somewhat abruptly sidelined from their normal influence within the New Zealand economy, representatives of the business sector continued to feature in media reporting: lobbying against perceived discrepancies in various industries, publicising habitual evaluations such as business-confidence indicators and economic outlooks, and itching for an early return to "business as usual".
On 17 September 2020, New Zealand economy officially entered into a recession, with the country's gross domestic product contracting by 12.2% in the June quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The retail, accommodation, hospitality, and transportation sectors were adversely affected by the international travel ban and a strict nationwide lockdown.
After successfully containing the virus, the New Zealand economy had sharp growth in what is known as a V-shaped recovery and ended the year with an overall economic expansion of 0.4%, better than the predicted 1.7% contraction. Unemployment also dropped to 4.9% in December 2020, down from a peak Covid effected rate of 5.3% in September.
By mid–September 2021, the Restaurant Association's Chief executive Marisa Bidois estimated that about 1,000 hospitality businesses nationwide had been forced to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the loss of 13,000 jobs. This has led the Association to lobby the Government for continued wage subsidies and incentives to boost customer rates. By mid–November 2021, the Bay of Plenty Times reported that 26,774 companies had been liquidated by August 2021.
In early February 2022, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) identified the country's border restrictions and declining house prices as the major risks to the New Zealand economy that year. While the OECD report credited New Zealand's elimination strategy, wage and socio-economic subsidies with helping the economy to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, it also warned that excessive Government spending was causing the economy to overheat and raising debt levels. The OECD welcomed the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's decision to raise interest rates but also urged the Government to raise the superannuation age, ease building restrictions, and reduce government spending.
In late October 2022, the New Zealand Government ended its COVID-19 "handouts" programme for businesses. Stuff reported a 48% increase in formal insolvency proceedings in the third quarter of 2022, taking the total of business insolvencies that year to 384. In addition, receivership rates increased by 243% to 24 while voluntary administrations rose by 60% to eight. The transport and delivery sectors reported a 229% increase insolvency proceedings due to a shortage of drivers. The building services and construction sectors reported 50 and 107 insolvencies respectively, citing the economic and labour challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sectors
Accommodation
On 24 March 2020, two local authorities and the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association announced they were closing their camping grounds.
On 12 August 2020, Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace announced that all rest homes in New Zealand would go into full lockdown immediately until midnight Friday (14 August) in response to a recent wave of community transmissions.
Agriculture
On 31 March 2020, NZ Pork CEO David Baines warned that the Government's decision to classify butcheries as non-essential services would have serious implications for the welfare of pigs on New Zealand farms. Due to a surplus in pigs, many farms lacked sufficient space to store pigs.
On 22 August, it was reported that about 2.5 million bees had starved to death after workers from Waikato were unable to travel to Auckland to access beehives due to checkpoints imposed following a surge in community transmissions in Auckland. Businesses affected include Waitakaruru Honey Limited. Apiculture New Zealand had applied to the Ministry of Health for an exemption on behalf of commercial bee keepers.