Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give an update on New Zealand’s response to the Middle East. The update will begin at 1.30pm and will be livestreamed at the top of this story. The war, which has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, has seen fuel prices soar and is likely to fuel inflation in other parts of the economy, including food. As of March 15, New Zealand’s combined petrol, diesel and jet fuel stocks equated to about 49 days’ of cover nationwide, including fuel being held in storage and fuel on ships bound for New Zealand. That is slightly below the levels held on March 8, when New Zealand had a combined 52 days of cover. Earlier this week, Willis urged people not to panic-buy fuel. “There are about 50 days of petrol and diesel in the country, or on the way here, which is normal,” she said, noting that petrol stations that had run dry had done so because they were offering heavily discounted promotions. Luxon and Willis will also respond to today’s gross domestic product (GDP) figures, showing the economy grew just 0.2% in December 2025, at the lower end of expectations. The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) had forecast growth of 0.5%. Economists expected it to be between 0.2% and 0.4%. The data suggest a fragile recovery, which could be blown off course by the US-Israeli war on Iran. This is the first time since the year ended September 2024 that the economy has recorded annual growth. The data highlighted that while the economic recovery continued into the fourth quarter of 2025, the economy was “still fragile” with private demand noticeably lacking from the equation, ASB senior economist Kim Mundy said. Given the “shadow” now being cast by the Iran conflict and oil price shock, the risks to the growth outlook were clearly skewed to the downside, Mundy said.