New Zealand current account deficit widened to NZD 6.15 billion in the third quarter of 2018 from NZD 5.16 billion a year earlier and compared to expectations of a NZD 5.85 billion shortfall. The goods account deficit widened sharply to NZD 3.22 billion from NZD 2.15 billion a year earlier as exports climbed 12.5 percent and imports jumped 18.1 percent. The services account deficit also widened to NZD 0.30 billion from NZD 0.04 billion. In contrast, the primary income deficit narrowed to NZD 2.56 billion from NZD 2.84 billion and the secondary income gap to NZD 0.07 billion from NZD 0.13 billion. Current Account in New Zealand averaged -1039.02 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 -2921.73 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 -4270.93 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.