Ignore the ‘merchants of misery’ - things are going to get better, Willis says

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

The Reserve Bank has cut the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points, to 3%.

The Finance Minister isn’t explicitly telling Kiwis to go out and spend - but she’s hinting at it, saying they can be confident things are about to get better. As for those criticising her economic management, they’re unpatriotic “doomsayers” and “merchants of misery” who have a “vested interest in talking down NZ’s prospects”.

If optimism could solve New Zealand’s economic woes, then Finance Minister Nicola Willis would be well on the way to that solution.

Her press conference, following the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the OCR to 3% was littered with words and phrases like “confidence”, “transition”, “looking to the future”, “economic activity”, “conditions for growth”, and “acceleration”.

At one stage she seemed to quote the chorus of Northern Irish band D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better. It got stuck on repeat for a while too.

“I want New Zealand households to look ahead and see that things are going to get better according to the economists whose job it is to analyse these things,” Willis said.

“They don’t have to believe me, I’m a politician. But they can look at what all of the economists and the data are saying. It is objective data that says things are absolutely getting better, and you should feel confident about that.”

(She later added: “They should believe me, by the way”).

Nicola Willis after the Reserve Bank's latest OCR cut.

Fresh from Parliament’s Question Time, where Labour’s Barbara Edmonds used various indicators of economic growth to attack Willis’ lack of economic growth, Willis returned fire.

“I’m always conscious that households listen to merchants of misery every day, most of whom sit on the Opposition benches who like to be doomsayers and talk down the New Zealand economy.

The comment was made after Karen O’Leary talked to Night ‘n Day about cheaper butter on Paddy Gower Has Issues.

“Now is not the time to be talking down the New Zealand economy. The data doesn’t lie. The Reserve Bank is independent. They are not political, and they are saying unemployment is going to reduce, growth is going to return, things are looking better,” Willis said.

She admitted many Kiwi households are still arriving at the supermarket checkout and finding the total figure that comes up on screen “really really scary”.

So is the supermarket duopoly to blame? Are Woolworths and Foodstuffs so-called “merchants of misery” too? Willis gave a politician’s answer.

“I would encourage Foodstuffs and Woolworths to do everything they can to ensure that Kiwi shoppers face lower prices. They have that power in their hands, and they can exercise it any day they like,” she said, adding a congratulations to Night ‘n Day for its loss-leading butter prices.

So if Willis’ economic revival cheerleading is on the money, and things are going to get better - is she essentially chanting for Kiwis to “Spend! Spend! Spend!”?

“It is likely that many households and businesses will think ‘Yep, this is the time to start spending’,” she said.

Nicola Willis is accusing Labour MPs - like Barbara Edmonds - of being “merchants of misery”.

“Individual households will make their own decisions about spending and saving, but as unemployment is forecast to reduce and as growth is forecast to recover, that will support greater levels of confidence in the economy,” Willis said.

As for businesses, her message to them is: spend, and hire.

“We want you out there buying and investing and creating jobs. I want New Zealand businesses to be buying kit, getting money circulating in the economy, hiring people, looking to the future with confidence,” Willis said.