2025 preview of national accounts improvements and updates has been released today, presenting the data updates Stats NZ will make to this year's cycle of annual national accounts.
Each year, Stats NZ updates the annual national accounts. Data updates occur when:
- new or more timely information has become available
- new methods or data sources are introduced
- existing methods or data sources are updated.
"Our customers need the most up-to-date and accurate data possible to inform key decisions. Data updates ensure we are constantly improving our statistics to reflect the New Zealand economy," general manager and macroeconomic spokesperson Jason Attewell said.
Stats NZ follows international best practice in their approach to data updates, and it's common practice for national statistics offices to update data.
"There is always a trade-off between producing timely statistics that give an indication of what is happening in the economy, and incorporating more detailed, annual data in their production. Data updates allow us to meet both of these needs," Attewell said.
Annual national accounts provide more depth, breadth, and detail about the structure of the New Zealand economy while more frequent measures, such as quarterly gross domestic product (GDP), are used for monitoring economic growth.
Updates to New Zealand's annual national accounts reflect the availability of new information from underlying data sources, such as tax data and detailed financial data from the Annual Enterprise Survey (AES). These updates are incorporated into higher-frequency measures such as quarterly GDP, resulting in updates to previously published statistics. Quarterly data is revised to match the new annual numbers (a process known as benchmarking).
2025 preview of national accounts improvements and updates has more information about national accounts improvements and upcoming releases.
