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

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

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks Be follow
• 0:12
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• 0:16
  Speaker 2: They have Plenty has become New Zealand's top performing economy.
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  Speaker 2: How good that's according to asb's Regional Economic scorecard for
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  Speaker 2: the first quarter. Canterbury was bumped to second place Otago
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Y Cuttle, we're next. Matt Cowley is toting our Business
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  Speaker 2: Chambers Chief executive and with us.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Now, hey, Matt, hey here?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: This will be the horticulture, won't it in the Kiwi fruit?
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  Speaker 3: Oh look, we'll take it. Yep. These league tables are
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  Speaker 3: pretty funny. How the cherry pack are ten or so indicators?
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, no, look here we fruit's huge for our industry.
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  Speaker 3: The primary sector is huge for regional New Zealand. And look, basically,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: innovation follows the money and there's a lot of innovation
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: and clever things that are happening on the back of it.
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  Speaker 2: How are you feeling, I mean, can you actually feel
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: it out there? Is it a good vibe?
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  Speaker 3: A people are seeing the lights at the end of
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  Speaker 3: the tunnel. Obviously this a speed thing was taken for
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  Speaker 3: the March quarter so it doesn't quit taking into affect
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  Speaker 3: all this Middle East stuff. But I think even the
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  Speaker 3: construction industry that's usually our biggest contributed to GDP SO
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  Speaker 3: and that's quite far back. So when that takes off, jeez,
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  Speaker 3: we really will be sailing.
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  Speaker 2: Now. Tell me something. Do you think that things have
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  Speaker 2: changed materially since the Middle East stuff kicked off?
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  Speaker 3: A lot of people are deferring stuff. The market's really tight.
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  Speaker 3: We can't afford pay increases. Oh sorry, you know. Businesses
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  Speaker 3: are struggling to pass on cost increases they need. Even
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: fuel serve charges are being fought quite toughly. So I
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  Speaker 3: think as soon as these fuel price comes back, both
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  Speaker 3: businesses and consumers will have a bit more capacity to
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  Speaker 3: take on some of these big investments and things that
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  Speaker 3: they may have been deferring for a while.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff, Matt, Thanks very much. Matt Cawy Totaling,
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  Speaker 2: a Business Chamber Chief executive.
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