Banks are split over what today's GDP figures will show

Stats NZ will release the data for the first quarter of the year this morning.

Westpac, BNZ and Westpac are picking a small contraction -- while ANZ and ASB are picking a small expansion.

Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon says everyone's in a similar range -- slightly above or slightly below zero.

He says it's when we've had strong population growth which should provide a baseline of growth -- but it seems we're going backwards in per person terms.