New Zealand GDP Expands 1.1% In Q3

New Zealand's gross domestic product was up 1.1 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2016, Statistics New Zealand said on Thursday.

That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.8 percent following the 0.7 percent gain in the previous three months.

Business services advanced 2.0 percent on quarter, due to scientific, architectural and engineering services, the bureau said.

Transport was up 3.7 percent, due to increases in road, air, and transport support services.

Manufacturing was up 1.2 percent, due to food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing; and transport equipment, machinery and equipment manufacturing.

Construction was up 2.1 percent, due to increases in all the construction sub-industries. In all, 13 of the 16 GDP industries saw an increase in the third quarter.

Expenditure on gross domestic product grew 1.4 percent in Q3.

Household consumption expenditure was up 1.6 percent, driven by spending on services and non-durable goods.

Investment in fixed assets was up 1.4 percent, due to increased investment in transport equipment and residential building. Exports of goods and services fell 0.7 percent.

Imports of goods and services added 1.2 percent, due to imports of transport equipment, including aircraft purchases.

Inventories ran down $200 million, due to a decrease in manufacturing inventories.

Also on Thursday, the bureau said that New Zealand posted a seasonally adjusted current account deficit of NZ$1.899 billion in the third quarter of 2016.

The services surplus fell NZ$16 million to NZ$1,006 million in the third quarter. The investment income deficit added NZ$71 million to NZ$2,040 million in the latest quarter.

The balance of goods was a NZ$686 million deficit (NZ$190 million larger than Q2 deficit).

For the year ended September 2016, the current account deficit was NZ$7.5 billion.

New Zealand's external debt position was NZ$148.5 billion (58.0 percent of GDP) at 30 September 2016, up from a revised NZ$141.4 billion (55.9 percent of GDP) at 30 June 2016.

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