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New Zealand GDP Grew Faster in March Year, Data Revisions Show

By Tracy Withers
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - MAY 25: Sheep are mustered on Withers Farm in Kaipara Flats on May 25, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand. Manager Josh Jackson runs 1000 purebred Romney ewes, 250 hoggets, and finished 1500 lambs on the 350 hectare farm. He has decreased the flock by nine percent to have an easier winter, help the land recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and repeated flooding and to reduce the labour costs involved in farming sheep. Statistics NZ reported the ratio of sheep to people had fallen below five to one for the first time in 170 years, local media said. The Agricultural Production Census found the national flock fell by 2% to 25.3 million sheep in June 2022. The human population was 5.1 million at the time, which equates to 4.96 sheep for each human being in the country. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images) (Fiona Goodall/Photographer: Fiona Goodall/Gett)

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand’s economy grew significantly more than previously reported in the year through March 2024, according to revised data drawn from the national accounts.

Gross domestic product in the 12 months through March 2024 increased 1.4% from the year-earlier period, Statistics New Zealand said in a statement Wednesday in Wellington. That’s up from previously reported annual-average growth of just 0.3%.

The revisions reveal much stronger growth in farming, forestry and fishing as well as in business services and health care in the March year. It shows construction grew slightly rather than contracting as previously reported.

The national accounts provide balanced annual data across all industries for the March 2023 year, allowing for a better starting point and also allowing the weighting between industries to be updated to better reflect structural changes in the economy, the statistics agency said. The revisions also reflect improved data sources, it said.

The new series has a lower weighting for primary industries and a higher weight for construction. Services remains the biggest component of GDP at 67.6%, while goods-production makes up 18.8%.

Statistics New Zealand will report third-quarter GDP data on Dec. 19. It said that report will also include new seasonal adjustment methodology that will improve accuracy and provide a more appropriate treatment of pandemic-period volatility.

Most local economists provisionally expect GDP fell slightly in the third quarter following a 0.2% contraction in the three months through June, putting the economy in recession.

The biggest differences will be observed in the pandemic-affected periods — from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2022 — but also to the most recent quarters, the agency said. Some data series will be revised entirely.

“While seasonally adjusted data is revised with each new quarter of data, these method changes will cause larger than normal revisions to the seasonally adjusted series in the September quarter release,” the agency said. “Some quarters within a year will show stronger growth than previously published, while others will show weaker growth.”

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.