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Lower oil prices hold down New Zealand current account deficit in Q1

Xinhua, June 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lower oil prices at the start of the year helped drive down New Zealand's current account deficit to its lowest in almost a decade, the government statistics agency said Wednesday.

Overseas expenditure exceeded earnings by just 1.8 billion NZ dollars (1.25 billion U.S. dollars) in the quarter to the end of March, down 800 million NZ dollars (557.84 million U.S. dollars) from the previous quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand. "Imports of petroleum products fell to their lowest value in just over nine years, as prices plummeted in the latest quarter to their lowest level in over a decade," international statistics manager Jason Attewell said in a statement.

Quantities of petroleum product imports also fell significantly in the March quarter.

New Zealand's annual current account deficit was 8.6 billion NZ dollars (5.99 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), for the year ended March.

"Increased spending by overseas visitors in New Zealand, our second-largest source of export revenue, partly offset the fall in exports of dairy products over the past year," Attewell said.

New Zealand's international liability position was 153.5 billion (107.02 billion U.S. dollars), or 64.2 percent of GDP, at the end of March. Endi