BRIEF-RBNZ Releases Paper On Economic Impacts Of COVID-19 Containment Measures

Reserve Bank Of New Zealand: * RELEASES PAPER ON ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF COVID-19 CONTAINMENT MEASURES

* SEES IMPACT RANGES FROM ESTIMATED 4% REDUCTION IN GDP UNDER ALERT LEVEL 1 UP TO 37% OF GDP UNDER LEVEL 4 * SEES GDP AROUND 37 % LOWER DURING PERIOD OF ALERT LEVEL 4 THAN WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT ANY RESTRICTIONS

* SEES GDP AROUND 19 % LOWER DURING PERIOD OF ALERT LEVEL 3 THAN WOULD HAVE BEEN WITHOUT ANY RESTRICTIONS * SEES IMPACT NOT UNIFORM ACROSS ECONOMY, WITH SOME SECTORS MORE HEAVILY EFFECTED THAN OTHERS SUCH AS TOURISM

* DURING 4-1/2 WEEK PERIOD AT ALERT LEVEL 3, EQUATES TO FALL OF ABOUT NZ$5 BILLION IN PRODUCTION RELATIVE TO BASELINE, REDUCING ANNUAL GDP BY 1.7% * ECONOMIC IMPACT ON FIRMS IS HIGHLY UNCERTAIN UNDER ALERT LEVEL 3

* PAPER'S ESTIMATES & ASSUMPTIONS WILL INFORM RESERVE BANK’S PROJECTIONS & SCENARIOS AS IT PREPARES FOR MAY’S MONETARY POLICY STATEMENT Source text https://bit.ly/2L9dl6Z