New Zealand has emerged from this year's lockdowns better than expected but it's a much gloomier picture for the longer term recovery, with the country facing years of large deficits and ballooning debt.
The government has opened the books for the traditional pre-election update and it makes for grim reading.
House prices are predicted to keep rising - but that's raising concerns about the widening inequality gap with more and more New Zealanders heading for the unemployment queue.
Here's RNZ political editor, Jane Patterson.
