Gross domestic product (GDP) provides a snapshot of the performance of the economy. GDP is New Zealand's official measure of economic growth.
Key facts
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms (adjusted for price inflation).
In the December 2023 quarter, compared with the September 2023 quarter:
- GDP fell 0.1 percent
- expenditure on GDP was flat, at 0.0 percent
- GDP per capita fell 0.7 percent
- real gross national disposable income fell 1.4 percent.
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted nominal terms (not adjusted for price inflation).
In the December 2023 quarter, compared with the September 2023 quarter:
- expenditure on GDP fell 0.6 percent
- income GDP fell 0.6 percent.
New Zealand economy down in December 2023 quarter
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms.
Economic activity fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter as measured by gross domestic product. This follows a 0.3 percent fall in the September 2023 quarter. GDP rose 0.6 percent over the year ended December 2023 compared with the year ended December 2022.
Expenditure on GDP was flat, at 0.0 percent in the December 2023 quarter, following a 0.4 percent fall in the September 2023 quarter. Expenditure on GDP rose 0.6 percent over the year ended December 2023 compared with the year ended December 2022.
| Quarter | Quarterly growth (%) |
| Sep-17 | 0.7 |
| Dec-17 | 1 |
| Mar-18 | 0.8 |
| Jun-18 | 1.1 |
| Sep-18 | 0.2 |
| Dec-18 | 1.5 |
| Mar-19 | 0.7 |
| Jun-19 | 0.3 |
| Sep-19 | 0.8 |
| Dec-19 | 0.8 |
| Mar-20 | -1.2 |
| Jun-20 | -10.2 |
| Sep-20 | 14.1 |
| Dec-20 | 0.2 |
| Mar-21 | 1.8 |
| Jun-21 | 1.2 |
| Sep-21 | -3.9 |
| Dec-21 | 3.6 |
| Mar-22 | -0.1 |
| Jun-22 | 1 |
| Sep-22 | 1.8 |
| Dec-22 | -0.4 |
| Mar-23 | -0.3 |
| Jun-23 | 0.5 |
| Sep-23 | -0.3 |
| Dec-23 | -0.1 |
| Quarter | Annual growth (%) |
| Sep-17 | 3.3 |
| Dec-17 | 3.3 |
| Mar-18 | 3.4 |
| Jun-18 | 3.5 |
| Sep-18 | 3.5 |
| Dec-18 | 3.5 |
| Mar-19 | 3.5 |
| Jun-19 | 3.3 |
| Sep-19 | 3.3 |
| Dec-19 | 3.1 |
| Mar-20 | 2.4 |
| Jun-20 | -0.7 |
| Sep-20 | -1 |
| Dec-20 | -1.4 |
| Mar-21 | -0.4 |
| Jun-21 | 6 |
| Sep-21 | 5.3 |
| Dec-21 | 5.6 |
| Mar-22 | 4.6 |
| Jun-22 | 0.7 |
| Sep-22 | 2.5 |
| Dec-22 | 2.4 |
| Mar-23 | 2.7 |
| Jun-23 | 3 |
| Sep-23 | 1.3 |
| Dec-23 | 0.6 |
| Industry | Change ($) |
| "Agriculture | 23000000 |
| forestry | -18000000 |
| and fishing" | -20000000 |
| Mining | 5000000 |
| Manufacturing | 4000000 |
| "Electricity | -66000000 |
| gas | -44000000 |
| water | -18000000 |
| and waste services" | 0 |
| Construction | 28000000 |
| Wholesale trade | 100000000 |
| Retail trade and accommodation | 54000000 |
| "Transport | 94000000 |
| postal | 0 |
| and warehousing" | 16000000 |
| "Information | -18000000 |
| media | |
| and telecommunications" | |
| Financial and insurance services | |
| "Rental | |
| hiring | |
| and real estate services" | |
| Business services | |
| "Public admin | |
| safety | |
| and defence" | |
| Education and training | |
| Health and residential care | |
| "Arts | |
| recreation | |
| and other services" |
Downwards drivers - change in production
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms.
Wholesale trade was down 1.8 percent, driven by:
- grocery and liquor product wholesaling
- machinery and equipment wholesaling.
Retail trade and accommodation was down 0.9 percent, driven by:
- furniture, electrical, and hardware retailing
- food and beverage services
- motor vehicles and parts retailing.
Manufacturing was down 0.4 percent, driven by:
- transport equipment, machinery, and equipment manufacturing
- food and beverage manufacturing
- non-metallic mineral manufacturing.
Upwards drivers - change in production
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms.
Rental, hiring, and real estate services was up 1.0 percent, driven by:
- owner-occupied property operation
- rental and hiring services (except real estate).
Public administration and safety was up 2.8 percent, driven by:
- central government administration and defence.
Breakdown of GDP by expenditure
September 2023 quarter |
December 2023 quarter |
Annual average |
|
Household final consumption expenditure |
-0.9 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
Non-profit organisations serving |
-0.1 |
0.2 |
5.6 |
Private consumption expenditure |
-0.9 |
0.5 |
0.3 |
Central government expenditure |
-2.2 |
0.0 |
-2.2 |
Local government expenditure |
2.3 |
1.7 |
7.5 |
General government expenditure |
-1.7 |
0.2 |
-1.1 |
Gross fixed capital formation |
-3.0 |
-0.3 |
-1.1 |
Gross capital formation |
5.2 |
-8.7 |
-5.9 |
Gross national expenditure |
0.1 |
-1.8 |
-1.5 |
Exports of goods and services |
-2.4 |
3.2 |
10.0 |
Less imports of goods and services |
-0.5 |
-2.9 |
-0.3 |
Expenditure on |
-0.4 |
0.0 |
0.6 |
Note: For December 2023 quarter, the measures of average annual growth compare activity over the most recent year |
|||
| Component | Change ($) |
| Household consumption expenditure | 203000000 |
| Private consumption expenditure | 205000000 |
| General government expenditure | 26000000 |
| Change in inventories | -1991000000 |
| Gross fixed capital formation | -56000000 |
| Gross national expenditure | -1398000000 |
| Exports of goods and services | 551000000 |
| (less) Imports of goods and services | -652000000 |
| Expenditure on gross domestic product | -1000000 |
| Component | Change ($) |
| Compensation of employees | 769000000 |
| Gross operating surplus and gross mixed income | -1565000000 |
| Taxes on production and imports | 166000000 |
| (less) Subsidies | -39000000 |
| Gross domestic product - income measure | -591000000 |
Nominal income GDP fell
The following movements are in seasonally adjusted nominal price terms.
Nominal GDP evaluates gross domestic product at current prices, without adjusting to account for price changes from inflation.
Nominal income GDP fell 0.6 percent in the December 2023 quarter, following a 1.0 percent rise in the September 2023 quarter. The driver was:
- gross operating surplus and gross mixed income, down 3.6 percent.
This was partly offset by rises in:
- compensation of employees, up 1.7 percent
- taxes on production and imports, up 1.3 percent
- subsidies, down 7.1 percent (a fall in subsidies has an upwards contribution to income on GDP).
New Zealand and trade partners, December 2023 quarter
Country |
Quarterly % change |
% change from |
New Zealand |
-0.1 |
-0.3 |
Australia |
0.2 |
1.5 |
Canada |
0.2 |
0.9 |
Euro area |
0.0 |
0.1 |
European Union |
0.0 |
0.2 |
Japan |
0.1 |
1.3 |
OECD - Total |
0.3 |
1.7 |
United Kingdom |
-0.3 |
-0.2 |
United States |
0.8 |
3.1 |
Data as at 20 March 2024. See OECD.Stat for GDP data covering other countries. Take care when comparing New Zealand's GDP figures with those of other countries, as the methodology used varies internationally. Stats NZ publishes both 'average annual growth' and 'year-on-year' (change from same quarter previous year) GDP growth rates. 'Average annual growth' is Stats NZ's preferred measure, but it is not available from the OECD website for all countries each quarter. For more information on average annual growth and year on year growth, see Datainfo+. |
Seasonal adjustment additive outlier treatment
Sharp changes in activity pose challenges for our usual seasonal adjustment processes. Over the last few years, we have applied additive outlier treatment to our headline GDP estimates, as well as to those industries and components with major impacts from border closures or domestic COVID-19 restrictions. This has had the effect of subduing the impact of unusual data points on the seasonal adjustment process.
The irregular impacts of COVID-19 largely finished in the June 2022 quarter and for the majority of affected series we have stopped applying additive outlier treatment from the September 2022 quarter onwards. As activity returns to more stable patterns - although perhaps different from pre-COVID patterns - there will be a period of greater than usual uncertainty around seasonal adjustment factors, especially for series heavily affected by COVID restrictions.
Gross domestic product: December 2023 quarter - changes and data updates - DataInfo+ has more information.
Text alternative for Gross domestic product, industry growth and contribution to growth, December 2023 quarter
Image shows a column graph, pie chart, and bar chart showing growth, share of the economy, and contribution to growth in the December 2023 quarter for the primary, goods-producing, and services industries. Column chart shows that primary industries rose 0.3 percent, goods-producing industries fell 0.1 percent, and service industries rose 0.3 percent. A pie chart shows that service industries make up about two-thirds of GDP, goods-producing industries about one-fifth and primary industries about one-twentieth. A bar chart shows industry contribution to the GDP growth rate: primary industries contributed 0.02 percent, goods-producing contributed -0.02 percent, and services contributed 0.20 percent.
More data
Use Infoshare to access the national accounts time series.
Subject category: Economic indicators
Group: National accounts - SNA 2008
Structure of the economy
We no longer produce the gross domestic product data visualisation product. The CSV file 'Gross domestic product: December 2023 quarter - visualisation CSV' under Download data contains the underlying data previously used to produce this.
Tourism satellite account: Year ended March 2023 provides a picture of the role tourism plays in New Zealand, with information on the changing levels and impact of tourism activity.
Definitions and metadata
National accounts quarterlies - DataInfo+ provides the general methodology used to produce these statistics.
National accounts quarterlies - concepts - DataInfo+ provides the definitions of terms used in this release.
Gross domestic product: December 2023 quarter - changes and data updates - DataInfo+ has details of data updates for this release.
Overview of sources and methods for quarterly gross domestic product: Updates and COVID-19 adjustments provides an overview of changes to our usual quarterly GDP methods, including alternative data sources and methods we are using to measure the effects of COVID-19 in New Zealand.
About the quarterly income measure of GDP provides more information on the GDPI measure.
National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): Sources and methods (fourth edition) provides the data sources and compilation methods used in estimating GDPI as well as income by institutional sector and saving, assets, and liabilities measures.
Technical enquiries
Carol Mitchell
027 247 8057
[email protected]
ISSN 1178-0290
Next release
Gross domestic product: March 2024 quarter will be released on 20 June 2024.
