WELLINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's current account deficit widened to 2 billion NZ dollars (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the December 2017 quarter, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Wednesday.
The 407 million-NZ dollar increase in the deficit was mainly driven by New Zealand importing aircraft and other transport equipment, and crude oil, Stats NZ said.
The goods deficit was 465 million NZ dollars for the December 2017 quarter, 385 million NZ dollars wider than in the September 2017 quarter, it said.
"More transport equipment and crude oil imports both contributed to an increase in the goods deficit this quarter, despite more dairy and logs being exported," international statistics senior manager Daria Kwon said in a statement.
The services surplus remained steady in the December 2017 quarter, at 1.2 billion NZ dollars, the same level as for the September 2017 quarter, Kwon said, adding that increases in New Zealanders' spending abroad and overseas visitors' spending in New Zealand were roughly the same, leading to a small drop in the services surplus.
Overall, the income deficit remained steady in the December 2017 quarter, widening only 6 million NZ dollars to 2.7 billion NZ dollars, Stats NZ said, adding that overseas investors had a larger increase in the income they earned from their New Zealand investments than that New Zealanders earned from their investments abroad.(1 NZ dollar = 0.73 U.S. dollar)
