Well done that Subbie!

The Stuff website is presntly carrying the best headline we've seen for a while:

Economy shakes quake

The story is almost incidential; it's that good. But briefly, the economy has grown by 0.8% in the March quarter, double what we saw predicted on the business show on the telly at 6am this morning.

That's great news. In spite of the Christchurch earthquake late in the quarter, the economy is on the move again. The story says:

Statistics NZ said economic activity, as measured by gross domestic product rose 0.8 per cent in the March quarter. That followed a 0.5 per cent increase in economic activity in the December 2010 quarter.

It is the fastest pace of growth since the final quarter if 2009, when the economy grew 0.9 per cent.

Annual GDP rose 1.5 per cent to $135.8 billion, the biggest the New Zealand economy has been in a March year since 2008.

"The strong growth in the latest quarter despite the 22 February earthquake, was mainly due to manufacturing," national accounts manager Rachael Milicich said.

Whoever one votes for, this is good news for the economy going forward. All those prophets of doom who were predicting a double-dip recession have been proved wrong. The economy is still pretty fragile, but it's moving in the right direction, and for that we should all be grateful.