GDP goes flat after two strong quarters
Growth slowed to 0.1% in the second three months of the year.
Hot Topic
Long reads
Growth slowed to 0.1% in the second three months of the year.
Increases in financial sector and agricultural output were offset by drops in construction, mining and manufacturing, Statistics New Zealand announced this morning.
The average economic forecast was for an increase of 0.5%, although there was an unusually broad range in those forecasts, from 0.1% to 1.0%.
The Reserve Bank last week forecast a rise of 0.6% in its quarterly monetary policy statement.
The annual GDP figure is 1.5%. Today’s figure included a revision upwards from 0.8% to 0.9% in March quarter GDP.
The 1.5% rise in finance insurance and business services - the largest increase since March 2005 - was driven mostly by a rise in real business services, primarily accounting and legal work, Statistics New Zealand analyst Jason Attewell said.
Agriculture continued its rise, up 4.3%, with continued increases in dairy and wool output.
Construction fell 4.3% - the second quarterly fall after a 4.4% drop in the March quarter. Mining output fell 5.4% due to less extraction.
Manufacturing output dropped 0.1%, following two large quarterly rises of 3.3% and 3.6%,
The investment side of GDP shows better underlying growth than the headline GDP figures.
Plant and machinery investment rose 4.7% over the quarter, and overall business investment in fixed assets rose 1.3%.
For the year, business investment rose 9.6%.
Rob Hosking
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
GDP goes flat after two strong quarters
17017