WELLINGTON: New Zealand posted a seasonally adjusted current account deficit of NZ$1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2015, Statistics New Zealand said on Wednesday.
That follows the NZ$2.551 billion shortfall in the previous three months.
The balance of goods was a deficit of NZ$90 million in Q1, mainly due to a fall in imports of goods, the bureau said.
“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.
Quantities of petroleum product imports also fell significantly in the quarter. Shipments of petroleum product imports can be quite volatile on a quarterly basis, the bureau said.
The latest quarter’s current account decline was mainly due to a fall in imports of goods, combined with a fall in dividends paid to overseas portfolio shareholders.
On a yearly basis, New Zealand’s annual current account deficit was NZ$8.6 billion (3.6 percent of GDP). This compares with a deficit of NZ$7.8 billion (3.3 percent of GDP) for the year ended December 2014. The larger annual current account balance was mainly due to a fall in exports of goods, which was driven by falling dairy prices over the past year.
“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 NZ$153.5 billion (64.2 percent of GDP) at the end of the first quarter, NZ$1.1 billion smaller than the position at 31 December 2014.
New Zealand’s external debt position, which shows the difference between overseas lending and borrowing, decreased NZ$2.0 billion to NZ$138.9 billion (58.1 percent of GDP) in Q1.
An increase in reserve assets held overseas was partly offset by overseas investors purchasing debt securities issued by the banking sector in Q1, the bureau said.
