Ganesh Nana

Ganesh is a modelling, data and forecasting specialist. He brings an understanding of the macro economy to the BERL team along with extensive knowledge of the relationships between industries and sectors that together make up the New Zealand economy. Despite his passion for numbers, Ganesh’s approach to economics is firstly and foremost people-based. According to him, economics is about people. It is about their jobs, their incomes, their opportunities, and their futures. He strongly believes robust economic analysis is critical to ensure informed choices and policy decisions are made to ensure a positive difference to the life and prospects of New Zealanders. Ganesh has 25 years work experience in the field of economics - firstly working as a researcher at the Project on Economic Planning at VUW, where he also completed projects for BERL on sub-contract. Thereafter he went to England where he gained ‘hands-on’ experience of the UK Treasury and the OECD Multimod models, simulating the impacts of policy changes and shocks working in the House of Commons and, later, for Oxford Economic Forecasting Ltd.

Since returning to New Zealand, he has been a tutor and lecturer at VUW as well undertaking some sub-contract work for BERL, before joining BERL full-time in 1998. In his role as editor of BERL Forecasts he has been responsible for BERL’s regular monitoring and assessments of the situation and prospects for the New Zealand economy. BERL Forecasts remains one of the most respected independent forecasting publications in New Zealand. Indeed, BERL Forecasts was ranked first in a Treasury analysis of the accuracy of forecasts for GDP over the 1996 to 2005 period. Ganesh is also responsible for preparing and disseminating BERL’s assessments of the state of the NZ economy and near-term prospects, through BERL Forecasts and Monthly Monitor. A recent Treasury assessment of forecasts over the 1996 to 2005 period placed BERL Forecasts first (out of 16) for the accuracy of its GDP forecasts and third for its CPI forecast. Before economics (and numbers), Ganesh regards cricket as his first passion, and also maintains an intense interest in rugby. Qualifications: PhD (Economics), Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). BCA Hons (Economics), VUW