Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand's economic situation compares "very, very well" to Australia, even as her country recorded its worst quarterly GDP figures in modern history.
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Stats NZ revealed on Thursday Kiwi gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 12.2 per cent between April and June this year, confirming a recession.
The quarter covers the majority of New Zealand's nationwide lockdown to fight COVID-19, a period when retail, construction and tourism industries were forced to close.
"The 12.2 per cent fall in quarterly GDP is by far the largest on record in New Zealand," Stats NZ manager Paul Pascoe said, with record-keeping dating back to 1987.
Stats NZ said the fall was larger than other economies, including Australia, which suffered a 7.0 per cent drop during a similar period.
Despite that, Ms Ardern said she wouldn't swap places with Australia.
"I'm happy with that comparison to be made because on a number of areas, we are faring very, very well," she said.
"That's in spite of the fact international tourism means twice as much to us as it does for Australia."
Finance Minster Grant Robertson said the 12.2 per cent contraction came as government "went hard and went early" with its COVID-19 response.
"I back our approach," he said.
"If you compare unemployment, our peak is going to be significantly lower than Australia.
"We're going to come out of this year with our debt a little lower than Australia.
"Our growth and our rebound out of this will be faster and quicker."
Mr Robertson said the next set of figures, released in three months time and including a long stretch without COVID-19 restrictions, would show New Zealand's resilience.
"Our strategy was to go ahead and to go early to get on top of the virus," he said.
"There's no doubt that the September quarter will see us rebound significantly ...this was our strategy."
Comparisons to Australia are often made in New Zealand, where getting one over the trans-Tasman rivals is a common aspiration.
The PM was in Palmerston North on Thursday campaigning ahead of the October 17 election.
While visiting Manawatu, one gushing constituent who asked for a selfie said she was worried the PM might defect to Australia.
"I'm sticking around here," Ms Ardern laughed, squashing the idea of an unlikely defection to Australian Labor.
A recent Lowy Institute poll confirmed Ms Ardern is Australia's favourite politician.
Back in Wellington, opposition leader Judith Collins also invoked Australia when discussing the GDP figures.
"The last time there was a recession, even anywhere near the magnitude of this one was in the late 1980s," she said.
"We're going to see a loss of skilled people as soon as they can shift into Australia, because they will be in a far better situation to get jobs."
Ms Ardern said her government should not be judged purely on economic benchmarks during its response to COVID-19.
"My question would be, what's your measure of success? In a global pandemic what do we measure success on?" she said.
"Success for me is saving people's lives, supporting and saving people's businesses and coming out the other side faster and quicker and with more activity out the other side."
New Zealand's COVID-19 death toll stands at 25.
Australian Associated Press
