Annual net migration falls to its lowest level in three years
By Rebecca Howard
Nov. 22 (BusinessDesk) - Annual net migration continues to ease off record highs, falling to its lowest level in three
years in the year ended October.
Net migration was 61,751 in the year to Oct. 31, down from 70,694 a year earlier, Statistics New Zealand said. Migrant
arrivals slipped 2.7 percent to 128,123, while departures lifted 8.9 percent to 66,372.
“Although migrant departures continue to be the driving force behind falling annual net migration, October also had a
noticeable fall in the number of migrant arrivals,” Stats NZ population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said.
“Both trends helped bring annual net migration to its lowest level since the year ended September 2015.”
Annual non-New Zealand citizen departures climbed 16 percent to 31,800, while local departures were up 3 percent to
34,600.
New Zealand's strong inbound migration was a key plank for aggregate economic growth in recent years, and the Treasury
still sees it as a tailwind for the rest of 2018. However, it also added stress to infrastructure and has been seen as
stifling wage growth as more people compete for work.
Migration has fallen from record highs in recent months and Westpac Bank senior economist Satish Ranchhod said the
October result was not a surprise. "This result was very close to our forecast. We expect a further fall in net
migration over the coming year," he said.
While migration eases, tourism remains a key support for the economy. Stats NZ said short-term arrivals were up 4.8
percent to 283,568 in October from a year earlier. There were 3.8 million annual visitors, up 3.6 percent from a year
earlier.
Australia continues to provide the highest number of visitors, up 1.4 percent in the 12 months to October at 1.48
million. Visitors from China numbered 451,344 in the 12-month period, up 9.7 percent.
(BusinessDesk)
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