Matt Cowley: Tauranga Business Chamber CEO on the Bay of Plenty becoming NZ's top-ranked economy

Best of Business · Jun 16, 2026 · 2m · transcript

The Bay of Plenty could be seeing the light at the end of the economic tunnel.

ASB's Regional Economic Scoreboard shows the Bay's reclaimed first place after a strong kiwifruit season.

Canterbury's runner up, Otago third and the West Coast last.

Tauranga Business Chamber chief executive, Matt Cowley, says innovation follows money and there's a lot of innovation in the area.

"Even the construction industry - that's usually our biggest contributor to GDP, so when that takes off...we really will be sailing."

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