10 January 2005
South Island districts lead regional growth in 2004
The country’s buoyant economic climate is being led by the sunshine and playground districts like Kaikoura, Tasman and
Queenstown-Lakes. This reinforces the view that it is not purely the main urban centres that drive growth in the New
Zealand economy.
The latest BERL analysis of regional performance has South Island districts (Territorial Authorities or TAs) taking
four of the top five spots in an index made up of four key economic indicators.
Queenstown-Lakes District came out in first place followed by Rodney District (the sole North Islander) with Tasman
District in third place. The top five was rounded out by Kaikoura District in fourth and then Marlborough District in
fifth place.
Queenstown-Lakes first place ranking was based on 1st placings in resident population growth and business growth. It
ranked 3rd in employment growth and 4th in GDP growth.
Rodney District’s second overall placing was based on its 3rd place finish in resident population growth. It was ranked
5th in business growth, 6th in employment growth and 7th in GDP growth.
Tasman District’s third placing was due to a solid all-round performance placing 3rd in GDP growth, 4th in business
growth, 7th in population growth and 11th in employment growth.
Kaikoura’s 4th placing was hampered by its middling performance in resident population growth (34th). However, it
ranked 1st in both employment and GDP growth and 2nd for business growth.
BERL has ranked 73 TAs across seven key economic performance indicators including resident population growth;
employment growth; real value added (GDP) growth; GDP per capita growth; productivity growth; business growth; and
business size growth.
The regional economic index ranks each TA on four base indicators: resident population growth; employment growth; GDP
growth; and growth in number of businesses. It then sums the rankings. A top ranking on the BERL index requires positive
achievements across all indicators (GDP, employment, population and business growth) - reflecting broad-based economic
performance.
ENDS