Statistics NZ have this afternoon announced substantial revisions to their balance of payments statistics series.
The current account deficit for the year to March 2000 is now recorded as 7.1% of GDP rather previously published 8.2%.
The improvement is almost entirely due to earnings by New Zealand companies’ overseas subsidiaries. Substantial
revisions go back as far as September 1998.
In the March 1999 year, where previously the current account deficit was recorded as 5.8% of GDP, the new figures show a
deficit of 4.4% of GDP.
The revisions are expected to have a positive impact on the value of the languishing Kiwi dollar.