New Zealand’s annual goods trade surplus reached a 28-year high of $2.2 billion as imports tumbled in the year ended
October 2020, Stats NZ said today.
“This is the largest annual surplus since the July 1992 year, driven mainly by much lower imports after the global
COVID-19 pandemic hit, while New Zealand’s exports have held up,” international trade manager Alasdair Allen said.
Annual imports fell $6.5 billion (10 percent) to $58 billion in the year ended October 2020. In the same period exports
rose $734 million (1.2 percent) to $60 billion.
“Imports are down in part because of restrictions on international and domestic travel imposed in March to slow the
spread of the pandemic,” Mr Allen said.
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