Costs of business equipment falls
Costs of plant, machinery and other equipment continue to fall.
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Costs of plant, machinery and other equipment continue to fall.
The latest capital goods index, released this morning by Statistics New Zealand, shows a 0.6% drop in costs in the June quarter, totalling up to a 2.5% fall over the past 12 months.
The drop is driven mostly by the high New Zealand dollar, said Government Statistician Geoff Bascand.
Computer costs were the main fall, dropping 5.6% over the quarter, and the miscellaneous "other general purpose machinery" group recored a 1% drop for the quarter and 1.6% fall for the year.
Costs of plant, machinery and other equipment have ben falling since June 2009 and reflects the currency's increase.
Trade data released since the last quarter of 2010 shows increased volumes of imports of capital equipment, as New Zealand firms take advantage of the higher purchasing power delivered by the high dollar against the US currency.
Not all costs fell in the latest figures. Transport equipment rose 0.3% in quarter, after being flat since June 2009. The largest increases appear largely driven by the government's infrastructure investment programme, along with the early stages of the Christchurch rebuilding.
Civil construction costs rose 2.5%, following rises of 1.2% in the previous quarter. the main cause is road-related construction, although prices for costs relating to gas, water drainage, sewerage and well-digging pipelines also rose significantly, by 0.9%.
Rob Hosking
Wed, 17 Aug 2011
Wed, 17 Aug 2011
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Costs of business equipment falls
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