Gross domestic product: September 2023 quarter

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

In the September 2023 quarter, compared with the June 2023 quarter:

GDP fell 0.3 percent
expenditure on GDP fell 0.7 percent
goods producing industries fell 2.6 percent
service industries rose 0.4 percent
primary industries rose 0.6 percent
GDP per capita fell 0.9 percent
real gross national disposable income fell 0.3 percent
current price expenditure on GDP rose 1.2 percent.

GDP rose 1.3 percent over the year ended September 2023, compared with the year ended September 2022.

All movements are in real terms unless stated otherwise.

New Zealand economy down in September 2023 quarter

Economic activity fell 0.3 percent in the September 2023 quarter as measured by gross domestic product. This follows a 0.5 percent rise in the June 2023 quarter. GDP rose 1.3 percent over the year ended September 2023 compared with the year ended September 2022.

Expenditure on GDP fell 0.7 percent in the September 2023 quarter, following a 0.9 percent rise in the June 2023 quarter. Expenditure on GDP rose 1.1 percent over the year ended September 2023 compared with the year ended September 2022.

Quarter	Quarterly growth (%)
Jun-17	0.9
Sep-17	0.8
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	0.9
Dec-19	0.7
Mar-20	-1.2
Jun-20	-10.1
Sep-20	14.1
Dec-20	0
Mar-21	1.8
Jun-21	1.3
Sep-21	-3.8
Dec-21	3.4
Mar-22	0
Jun-22	1.1
Sep-22	1.8
Dec-22	-0.6
Mar-23	-0.2
Jun-23	0.5
Sep-23	-0.3

Quarter	Annual growth (%)
Jun-17	3.5
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	5.2
Dec-21	5.5
Mar-22	4.5
Jun-22	0.7
Sep-22	2.5
Dec-22	2.4
Mar-23	2.8
Jun-23	3
Sep-23	1.3

Industry	Change ($)
"Agriculture	30000000
forestry	-10000000
and fishing"	-191000000
Mining	-48000000
Manufacturing	-74000000
"Electricity	-71000000
gas	-11000000
water	-120000000
and waste services"	45000000
Construction	45000000
Wholesale trade	99000000
Retail trade and accommodation	15000000
"Transport	17000000
postal	29000000
and warehousing"	103000000
"Information	40000000
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

Manufacturing was down 3.4 percent, driven by:

petroleum, chemical, plastic, and rubber products manufacturing
food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing.

Transport, postal and warehousing was down 4.5 percent, driven by:

transport support services.

Construction was down 1.7 percent, driven by:

construction services
non-residential building construction.

Wholesale trade was down 1.9 percent, driven by:

motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts wholesaling
grocery, liquor, and tobacco product wholesaling.

Upwards drivers - change in production

Healthcare and social assistance was up 2.3 percent, driven by:

private sector medical and other healthcare services
central government healthcare and social assistance.

Rental, hiring and real estate services was up 1.0 percent, driven by:

owner-occupied property operation
rental and hiring services (except real estate).

Breakdown of GDP by expenditure

Table 2, Quarterly percentage change in GDP, by expenditure, June 2023 and September 2023 quarters

	Jun 2023 quarter (updated)	Sep 2023 quarter	Annual average (growth over YE Sep 2023)
Household final consumption expenditure	0.0	-0.6	1.3
Non-profit organisations serving households	-0.5	-0.1	9.5
Private consumption expenditure	0.0	-0.6	1.4
Central government expenditure	3.8	-2.2	-2.6
Local government expenditure	0.6	1.5	7.6
General government expenditure	3.4	-1.8	-1.5
Gross fixed capital formation	0.2	-3.4	-1.0
Gross capital formation	-5.0	5.6	-2.5
Gross national expenditure	-0.7	0.2	-0.2
Exports of goods and services	4.7	-2.6	9.4
Less imports of goods and services	-0.8	-0.3	2.7
Expenditure on gross domestic product	0.9	-0.7	1.1
Note: For September 2023 quarter, the measures of average annual growth compare activity over the most recent year (sum of activity in December 2022 to September 2023 quarters) with activity over the previous year (sum of activity in December 2021 to September 2022 quarters). YE - year ended

Component	Change ($)
Household consumption expenditure	-283000000
Private consumption expenditure	-285000000
General government expenditure	-260000000
Change in inventories	1889000000
Gross fixed capital formation	-631000000
Gross national expenditure	144000000
Exports of goods and services	-452000000
(less) Imports of goods and services	-75000000
Expenditure on gross domestic product	-504000000

Downwards drivers - change in expenditure

Gross fixed capital formation was down 3.4 percent, driven by:

transport equipment
non-residential building.

Exports of goods and services was down 2.6 percent, driven by:

other food, beverages, and tobacco
coal, crude petroleum and ores, minerals, and gases
agriculture and fishing primary products.

This was partially offset by a rise in:

travel services.

Household spending (household consumption expenditure) was down 0.6 percent, driven by:

durables, down 3.2 percent.

Upwards drivers - change in expenditure

Inventory levels rose $700 million in the September 2023 quarter, driven by:

distribution.

New Zealand's real purchasing power falls in the September 2023 quarter

In the September 2023 quarter, compared with the June 2023 quarter:

real gross national disposable income fell 0.3 percent
real gross national disposable income per capita fell 0.9 percent.

In the year ended September 2023, compared with the year ended September 2022:

annual real gross national disposable income rose 0.3 percent
annual real gross national disposable income per capita fell 1.3 percent.

While GDP measures economic activity, real gross national disposable income (RGNDI) measures the volume of goods and services that New Zealand residents have command over, that is, the real purchasing power of the country's disposable income. RGNDI is also affected by changes in the terms of trade, the country's net investment income, and net transfer flows with the rest of the world.

New Zealand's ability to buy goods and services from its income, RGNDI, fell 0.3 percent in the September 2023 quarter. Economic activity, the terms of trade, net transfer flows, and net investment income on our international investments all decreased.

Over the September 2023 quarter, export prices fell 1.4 percent and import prices fell 0.8 percent, decreasing the terms of trade in the quarter. A decrease in the terms of trade results in more exports being needed to pay for a given volume of imports. This means that residents can purchase fewer goods and services by volume from the income generated from a given level of domestic production.

The 0.3 percent fall in RGNDI, coupled with a population increase of 0.6 percent over the quarter, decreased RGNDI per capita by 0.9 percent in the quarter.

Annually, RGNDI grew 0.3 percent over the year to September 2023 while RGNDI per capita fell 1.3 percent over the year.

New Zealand and trade partners, September 2023 quarter

Table 3, Percentage changes in GDP, international comparisons
September 2023 quarter and with same quarter previous year (September 2022 quarter)

Country	Quarterly percentage change in GDP Sep 2023 quarter	Percentage change from same quarter previous year
New Zealand	-0.3	-0.6
Australia	0.2	2.1
Canada	-0.3	0.5
Euro area (20 countries)	-0.1	0.0
European Union (27 countries)	0.0	0.0
Japan	-0.7	1.6
OECD - Total	0.5	1.7
United Kingdom	0.0	0.6
United States	1.3	3.0

Data as at 13 December 2023. See OECD.Stat for GDP data covering other countries. Care
should be taken 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, please 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: September 2023 quarter - changes and data updates - DataInfo+ has more information.

Quarterly and annual growth revised due to annual benchmarking, method changes, and updated data

In the September quarter of each year, we reconcile quarterly constant price series to new annual national accounts data which have been through the process of supply-use balancing.

This reconciliation process is essential to maintain the quality of the quarterly series over time by allowing us to include more comprehensive detail previously uncaptured by our quarterly indicators. We also incorporate methodology changes and updated data sources into our series.

The new annual data comes from two releases, published on 17 November 2023:

Annual benchmark updates can have a significant effect on quarterly estimates of economic growth. The impact of structural changes and updated data result in revised annual and quarterly growth rates, especially for the most recent periods as our quarterly growth estimates reflect more of the recent changes in the structure of the economy.

For more information on updates to GDP, see:

Quarter	Previously published quarterly growth (%)
Jun-17	1
Sep-17	0.8
Dec-17	1
Mar-18	0.9
Jun-18	1.1
Sep-18	0.1
Dec-18	1.5
Mar-19	0.8
Jun-19	0.4
Sep-19	0.7
Dec-19	0.8
Mar-20	-0.9
Jun-20	-10.5
Sep-20	13.8
Dec-20	0
Mar-21	2.3
Jun-21	1.7
Sep-21	-4.1
Dec-21	3.6
Mar-22	0.1
Jun-22	1.3
Sep-22	1.5
Dec-22	-0.5
Mar-23	0
Jun-23	0.9

Quarter	Updated quarterly growth (%)
Jun-17	0.9
Sep-17	0.8
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	0.9
Dec-19	0.7
Mar-20	-1.2
Jun-20	-10.1
Sep-20	14.1
Dec-20	0
Mar-21	1.8
Jun-21	1.3
Sep-21	-3.8
Dec-21	3.4
Mar-22	0
Jun-22	1.1
Sep-22	1.8
Dec-22	-0.6
Mar-23	-0.2
Jun-23	0.5
Sep-23	-0.3

Quarter	Previously published annual growth (%)
Jun-17	3.5
Sep-17	3.3
Dec-17	3.5
Mar-18	3.5
Jun-18	3.6
Sep-18	3.6
Dec-18	3.5
Mar-19	3.5
Jun-19	3.2
Sep-19	3.3
Dec-19	3.1
Mar-20	2.5
Jun-20	-0.7
Sep-20	-1
Dec-20	-1.5
Mar-21	-0.7
Jun-21	5.9
Sep-21	5.4
Dec-21	6
Mar-22	5.2
Jun-22	1.2
Sep-22	2.9
Dec-22	2.7
Mar-23	2.9
Jun-23	3.2

Quarter	Updated annual growth (%)
Jun-17	3.5
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	5.2
Dec-21	5.5
Mar-22	4.5
Jun-22	0.7
Sep-22	2.5
Dec-22	2.4
Mar-23	2.8
Jun-23	3
Sep-23	1.3

The annual benchmark data for 2022 was used to update the weights used for aggregating the lower-level components in the production measure of GDP, through a process called chain-linking. Updating chaining weights allows the changing structure of the New Zealand economy to be reflected in the volume series.

The graph below shows how each industry contributed to quarterly GDP.

Industry	2021 contribution to GDP (%)
"Agriculture	5.7
forestry	0.7
and fishing"	9.4
Mining	2.6
Manufacturing	7.1
"Electricity	4.9
gas	6.4
water	3.6
and waste services"	2.2
Construction	5.5
Wholesale trade	15.3
Retail trade and accommodation	10.3
"Transport	4.3
postal	4.4
and warehousing"	6.5
"Information	3.1
media	8
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"
Unallocated taxes

Industry	2022 contribution to GDP (%)
"Agriculture	5.8
forestry	0.7
and fishing"	8.8
Mining	2.7
Manufacturing	6.8
"Electricity	5.3
gas	6.6
water	3.7
and waste services"	2.2
Construction	5.6
Wholesale trade	14.9
Retail trade and accommodation	10.7
"Transport	4.2
postal	4.3
and warehousing"	6.6
"Information	3
media	8.1
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"
Unallocated taxes

The graph below shows how each component contributed to quarterly expenditure on GDP.

Component	2022 contribution to GDE (%)
Household consumption expenditure	56.6
Central government final consumption expenditure	18.9
Local government final consumption expenditure	2.2
Private non-profit final consumption expenditure	1
Gross fixed capital formation	24.7
Change in inventories	0.5
Exports of goods and services	22.3
(less) Imports of goods and services	-26.2

Component	2023 contribution to GDE (%)
Household consumption expenditure	57.1
Central government final consumption expenditure	18.7
Local government final consumption expenditure	2.4
Private non-profit final consumption expenditure	1.1
Gross fixed capital formation	25.7
Change in inventories	0.3
Exports of goods and services	24.4
(less) Imports of goods and services	-29.7

Text alternative for Gross domestic product, industry growth, and contribution to growth, September 2023 quarter

Image shows a column graph, pie chart, and bar chart showing growth, share of the economy, and contribution to growth in the September 2023 quarter for the primary, goods-producing, and services industries. Column chart shows that primary industries rose 0.6 percent, goods-producing industries fell 2.6 percent, and service industries rose 0.4 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 0.04 percent, goods-producing contributed -0.5 percent, and services contributed 0.3 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: September 2023 quarter - visualisation CSV' under Download data contains the underlying data previously used to produce this.

The tourism satellite account 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: September 2023 quarter - changes and data updates - DataInfo+ has details of revisions 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.

Technical enquiries

Carol Mitchell
027 247 8057
[email protected]

ISSN 1178-0290

Next release

Gross domestic product: December 2023 quarter will be released on 21 March 2024.

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