Strong economic growth in the last three months of 2012
Strong economic growth in the last three months of 2012 – Media release
21 March 2013
Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.5 percent in the December 2012 quarter, the strongest quarterly growth since December 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today.
"Fifteen of the 16 industries recorded increases in the last three months of 2012, reflecting the broad-based nature of growth in this quarter," national accounts manager Rachael Milicich said.
The industries
with the largest contributions to growth
were:
• agriculture, forestry, and fishing (up 2.6
percent), mainly due to the largest quarterly increase in
forestry and logging activity in 13 years
• retail
trade and accommodation (up 2.3 percent), due to the largest
quarterly movement in retail trade since the March 2007
quarter
• wholesale trade (up 2.1 percent), now back
to pre-recession levels
• construction (up 1.8
percent), due to infrastructure construction which includes
roads, bridges, and power plants.
Economic activity for the year ended December 2012 was up 2.5 percent. This is the highest annual growth in GDP since March 2008, when the economic recession began.
The expenditure measure of GDP
was up 1.4 percent in the December 2012 quarter. The main
features of this growth were:
• household expenditure
on goods and services rose 1.6 percent, the largest
quarterly volume increase in six years
• investment in
fixed assets rose 2.2 percent, with increased investment in
plant, machinery, and equipment, and infrastructure
construction
• exports of goods rose 2.1 percent, with
log exports up while dairy exports are down
• imports
of goods fell 3.1 percent, mainly due to capital
goods.
ENDS
For more
information about these statistics:
• Visit Gross Domestic Product: December 2012
quarter
•
• Open the attached files
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/GrossDomesticProductDec12qtr.pdf
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1303/gdpDec12alltables.xls