After enduring its worst six-month downturn in more than three decades - COVID lockdowns excluded - the Kiwi economy is again showing signs to life.
Alongside the 0.7 per cent Q4 bump, the economy also ended an eight-quarter run of GDP per capita falls, growing by 0.4 per cent.
Ms Willis called that "particularly pleasing".
"We still have a way to go to get to where we want to be, but with economic forecasters predicting further growth in the quarters ahead things are looking up," she said.
The 0.7 per cent rise was above analysts' expectations, with the Reserve Bank tipping a rise of 0.3 per cent, and local banks spread between 0.2 and 0.5 per cent.
While welcome, there is no sugar-coating the hit to the Kiwi economy over 2024.
Annual growth was negative 1.1 per cent, led by a massive 7.3 per cent fall in the construction sector.
Stats NZ spokeswoman Katrina Dewbery said 11 of their 16 industry categories grew in the last quarter, led by housing, retail trade and accommodation.
"Higher spending by international visitors led to increased activity in tourism-related industries such as accommodation, restaurants and bars, transport, and vehicle hiring," Ms Dewbery said.
Westpac chief economist Michael Gordon said seasonal issues overstated the strength of the Q4 result, there was "some genuine growth" in the data release.
"We'd call this a genuine upside surprise," he said.
The result is undoubtedly good news for both the economy and the government, which has put economic growth at the forefront of its political agenda this year.
Exports also grew by 3.5 per cent last quarter, helping to narrow the current account deficit by almost half a billion dollars to $NZ5.9 billion ($A5.4 billion).
Unlike Australia, New Zealand has suffered a hard landing in its post-pandemic economic recovery, going through a recession last year following tough-as-nails treatment from the Reserve Bank (RBNZ).
The RBNZ has since loosened its settings, dropping the official cash rate from 5.5 per cent, where it sat last August, to its current level of 3.75 per cent, with future falls to come.
ASB bank economist Wesley Tanuvasa said the scale of the GDP growth wouldn't cause a rethink from the central bank.
"Our first take is that this will be a welcome surprise to the RBNZ, but there won't be enough here to force the bank to diverge from its February (official cash rate) trajectory," he said.
