Frigate, oil prices push transtasman deficit to $3bn

By GREG ANSLEY

CANBERRA - Rising oil prices and the delivery of the Anzac frigate HMNZS Te Mana have pushed New Zealand's 12-month trade deficit with Australia to $A2.4 billion ($3.05 billion).

But a new analysis of transtasman trade suggests the full extent of the 23 per cent surge in the deficit in the 12 months to September may not be reflected in Wellington's figures.

The analysis showed that in 1998, differences in calculations between Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) were equivalent to 27.6 per cent of Australia's exports to New Zealand, and 5.1 per cent of Australia's transtasman imports.

The latest ABS report on Australia's international merchandise trade said Australia's surplus with New Zealand rose 75 per cent, to $A574 million, in the September quarter.

For the 12 months, the value of Australia's transtasman exports rose 15 per cent to $A6.88 billion. Imports from New Zealand increased by 12 per cent, to $A4.48 billion.

A spokeswoman for the ABS said the $A918 million surge in Australian exports was pushed by the $A421 million delivery of Te Mana. Another factor was rising world oil prices, which had helped increase the value of Australian petroleum and petroleum product sales by 50 per cent, to $A587 million.

The analysis of the differences in transtasman calculations, made jointly by Statistics NZ and the ABS, showed why New Zealand's figures for the period may be different.

The analysis, the third in a series, covered calendar 1998 and was based on an average annual $A exchange rate of $NZ1.1729.

Australia's reported $A3.82 billion in imports from New Zealand for the year compared with New Zealand's recorded transtasman exports of $A4.01 billion.

At the same time, New Zealand's reported imports of $A4.12 billion from Australia fell $A1.57 billion below Australia's recorded exports of $A5.69 billion.

The analysis showed that the biggest reason for the discrepancy in figures was the re-export of goods originating from third countries, from both Australia and New Zealand.

Allowing for this, and for other smaller discrepancies, the scale of the gap between the two countries' reported transtasman exports from New Zealand narrowed from the equivalent of 5.1 per cent of Australia's imports, to 1.1 per cent.