The September current account deficit is expected to have increased to 8.6% of GDP and the gross domestic product data is likely to show another quarter of economic decline.
First out will be the current account figures this morning, which are expected to record an investment income balance of minus $3.4 billion.
The September deficit is expected to be $4 billion, lifting the annual deficit to more than $15 billion.
Export receipts held their ground in September as the sharp fall in the New Zealand dollar more than offset the drop in world prices for commodity exports.
The import bill was inflated by higher prices, in particular a 31% increase for petroleum products.
"It's fairly damning that the New Zealand economy could experience the largest positive terms-of-trade shock in decades yet still fail to record a trade surplus at any point," Westpac chief economist Brendan O'Donovan said.
Part of the reason was that last summer's drought cancelled out some of the benefit from the dairy boom.
Prices reached record highs but production was down about 4% on the previous season.
Another factor was the massive run-up in oil prices, with New Zealand still a net importer despite the Tui field doing much to address the imbalance, he said.
However, a substantial share of the blame still had to go to New Zealanders' spendthrift ways.
The boost to export receipts from dairy and crude oil made that lifestyle seem more affordable for a while.
"The Reserve Bank has at times suggested that higher interest rates would encourage more saving and less spending but there is little evidence that households ever responded to this incentive.
"So the required adjustment in consumer behaviour will now be by force - reduced access to credit, greater job insecurity and a further rise in the relative prices of imported goods, thanks to a weaker dollar," Mr O'Donovan said.
Tomorrow, the GDP numbers are not expected to make pretty reading.
The details are expected to show consumers spent less, businesses invested less and the country sold less to the rest of the world.
An extension of the current recession is unlikely to surprise anyone.
Finance Minister Bill English last week confirmed market suspicions that the country had been in recession all year and it was likely to remain in recession for most, if not all of, next year.
Mr O'Donovan said that barring a major surprise in the data, the market reaction was likely to be limited to the GDP figures.
That was usually the case but it was even more pertinent this time given the speed of international and domestic developments.
September seemed like an age ago, he said.
"Remember, that was a time when we were paying $2.19 for a litre of petrol.
"We are now paying $1.40.
"The bigger question for the market is whether the lower petrol prices, large interest rate cuts and fiscal expansion are doing enough to offset the weak housing market and pain from the international recession."
Financial indicators suggested actions to date were helping stem the bleeding, but more needed to be done, he said.
