Govt to review dairy export quota allocation
The Government has announced that it intends to review the dairy quota allocation system.
New Zealand's seasonally adjusted current account balance was a deficit of $2.2 billion for the March 2013 quarter. This compares with a $2.5 billion deficit for the previous quarter.
"The rise in dairy exports was mainly due to increased volumes, although prices also rose for the first time in almost two years," acting balance of payments manager Matthew Haigh says.
For the March 2013 year, New Zealand's current account deficit narrowed to $10.1 billion (4.8% of GDP). This smaller deficit than for the December 2012 year (when it was 5.0% of GDP) was mainly due to a fall in imports of petroleum and petroleum products.
New Zealand's external position improves
At March 31, 2013, New Zealand's net international liability position was $146.7 billion (69.3% of GDP), compared with $149.6 billion (71.4% of GDP) at December 31, 2012.
"Almost a third of New Zealand's international assets are held in overseas share markets. Rising prices in these markets helped boost our asset values by $2.4 billion this quarter," Haigh says.
New Zealand's net external debt fell $3.7 billion, to $138.7 billion (65.6% of GDP) at March 31, 2013. The fall in net external debt was mainly due to reduced borrowing by the banking sector.
The net international liability position includes outstanding overseas reinsurance claims (as New Zealand's assets) from the Canterbury earthquakes. Total overseas claims are estimated to be $18.6 billion, and almost half these claims had been settled at March 31, 2013.
