New Zealand current account deficit widened to NZD 3.26 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018 from NZD 2.85 billion a year earlier and compared to expectations of a NZD 3.56 billion shortfall. The goods account deficit widened sharply to NZD 1.70 billion from NZD 1.19 billion a year earlier, whereas the services account surplus narrowed to NZD 0.97 billion from NZD 1.97 billion. Meantime, the primary income shortfall narrowed to NZD 2.52 billion from NZD 2.95 billion, whereas the secondary income account turned balanced compared to a NZD 0.10 billion surplus in Q4 2017. In 2018, the country's current account gap rose to NZD 2.74 billion from NZD 2.05 billion in the previous year. Current Account in New Zealand averaged -1050.70 NZD Million from 1971 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 1411 NZD Million in the first quarter of 2014 and a record low of -6150 NZD Million in the third quarter of 2018.
Current Account in New Zealand is expected to be 600.00 NZD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in New Zealand to stand at -2915.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the New Zealand Current Account is projected to trend around -2882.00 NZD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.