NZ economy slows

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.3 per cent in the September 2018 quarter, down from 1.0 per cent in the previous quarter, Stats NZ said today.

Growth was mixed, with 11 of the 16 industries recording higher production in the September 2018 quarter.

“Primary industries grew 2.2 per cent, while growth in service industries slowed to 0.5 per cent. The goods-producing industries fell 1.0 per cent, dragging down overall growth this quarter,” national accounts senior manager Susan Hollows said.

“Construction activity fell as repair work winds down on roads damaged in the Kaikōura earthquake. However, residential and non-residential construction continued to grow steadily.

“The largest contribution to the downturn in goods-producing industries was manufacturing, with food manufacturing down significantly,” Hollows said.

In the primary industries, increases in mining, and forestry and logging led growth. Offsetting the increase in primary industries was a fall in agriculture after rising strongly in the June 2018 quarter.

Mining rose 12 per cent, partly recovering from the sharp fall in the June quarter. Oil, gas, and coal production all increased.

The Pohokura gas field outage contributed to the large fall in June. The field was still operating at limited capacity, which constrained the bounce back in mining.

GDP per capita was flat in the September 2018 quarter, following an increase of 0.5 per cent in the June 2018 quarter.

Annual GDP growth for the year ended September 2018 was 3.0 per cent.

The size of the economy in current prices was $291 billion, for the September 2018 year.

The diagram above shows the relative components of gross domestic expenditure rounded to the nearest $5 billion.