Real Gross National Disposable Income Released
Statistics New Zealand today reintroduced real gross national disposable income (RGNDI) statistics. These have been
revised to introduce the concepts and definitions of the international standard System of National Accounts 1993. In
future these statistics will be published along with the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) information release.
While GDP is a measure of economic activity, RGNDI can be viewed as a broad welfare indicator.
It measures the real purchasing power of national disposable income, taking into account changes in the terms of trade,
and real gains from net investment and transfer income with the rest of the world. Effectively, it is a measure of the
volume of goods and services New Zealand residents have command over.
RGNDI increased 3.1 percent in the year ending March 2003. This compares with a 4.3 percent increase in the chain-volume
measure of GDP. A further expansion in the current account deficit was the main reason for this lower growth. An
increase in the estimated resident population of New Zealand meant that RGNDI per capita increased 1.5 percent for the
March 2003 year.
Brian Pink
Government Statistician