NZ posts larger than expected March trade surplus

1.00pm

New Zealand posted a $346 million trade surplus in March, $200 million ahead of economists' forecasts, according to preliminary figures released by Statistics New Zealand today.

That brought the annual deficit to $1.85 billion, compared with $1.70 billion in the February year and a surplus of $866 billion in March 2002.

Imports in March were $2.44 billion, compared with $2.32 billion in February and $2.99 billion in March last year, while preliminary estimates put exports at $2.79 billion in March, against February's $2.32 billion and March 2002's $2.49 billion.

Exports in the March year were down to $30.3 billion compared with $32.7 billion in the March 2002 year, while imports rose to $32.1 billion from $31.8 billion.

The seasonally adjusted value of imports decreased 2.2 per cent in the March 2003 quarter and this followed a 2.5 per cent fall in the December 2002 quarter.

The main contributors to the fall in imports in the March 2003 quarter were declines in value for capital goods, intermediate goods and cars.

These were partly offset by an increase in value for petrol and aviation fuel, while the value of consumption goods showed little change.

The value of the New Zealand dollar, as measured by the trade weighted index (TWI), appreciated 7.2 per cent in the quarter. A higher exchange rate causes import prices to fall generally.

- NZPA