Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand
12/16/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/16/2025 18:21
New Zealand’s productivity in a changing world
News: 16 December 2025
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) have developed a long-term insights briefing on New Zealand's productivity.
The Briefing explores why New Zealand faces challenges with productivity, now and looking ahead, and how productivity could be strengthened through more deliberate approaches to economic development and international connectivity and trade.
It draws insights from the experience of other small advanced economies, and New Zealand's current policy approach with sectors and international trade.
The focus of the Briefing is the question of 'How can we accelerate the growth of high productivity activities in the New Zealand economy?'
The Briefing is available as a PDF report below.
We developed the Briefing through 2 phases of public consultation
In October and November 2025 MFAT and MBIE invited feedback on a draft of the Briefing. The final version published above was shaped by the insights of those who participated in this consultation. A summary of submissions is available here, as well as a link to the draft Briefing we consulted on.
Summary of submissions: Draft Briefing - New Zealand's productivity in a changing world(external link)[PDF 209KB]
Consultation document: Draft Briefing - New Zealand's productivity in a changing world(external link)[PDF 1.4MB]
Prior to the consultation on the draft Briefing, in December to January 2025, MFAT and MBIE invited feedback on the proposed topic of productivity. The summary of feedback and the consultation document are available here:
Summary of submissions: Proposed topic - New Zealand's future productivity to 2050(external link) [PDF 193KB]
Consultation document: Proposed topic - New Zealand's future productivity to 2050(external link) [PDF 727KB]
About Long-term Insights Briefings
Long-term Insights Briefings are a requirement of all government departments under the Public Service Act 2020. They are 'thinkpieces', designed to explore medium-term to long-term trends and the risks and opportunities they present to New Zealand. Briefings are prepared independently of Ministers.
Next steps
The Briefing was presented to the House of Representatives in December 2025 for referral to a Select Committee.
MFAT and MBIE will publish additional information here following the completion of the Select Committee process.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand published this content on December 16, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 17, 2025 at 00:21 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]