Balance of payments - teachers page

• Balance of payments developments
• Balance of Payments - Sources and Methods 2001
• New international standards for balance of payments statistics - article
• Latest information on the balance of payment and quarterly international investment position
• New Balance of Payment Quarterly Financial Account and International Investment Position statistics - article
• Information about the Quarterly Balance of Payments
  

StatZing! activity answers

• Missing data from the table - Imports Sep 2002, $7,985m; Balance on Services Dec 2002, $211m; Exports Jun 2003, $7,543m; Balance on Current Transfers, 461m; Current Account Balance, $224m; Capital Account inflow Jun 2002, $214m and Capital Account outflow Mar 2003, $451m.

• In which quarter(s) is the current account in surplus? - March 2002 and March 2003.

• Exports of services are historically higher in the March quarters. What might cause this? - Seasonal patterns: peak periods for tourists visiting New Zealand (travel and transport services).

• If the USA relaxed quota restrictions on the imports of New Zealand meat, what would the likely effect be on New Zealand’s: a) balance on goods? b) current account balance? - Exports would go up, so the goods balance would go up and the current account balance would go up.

• Income from foreign investment in New Zealand is much higher than income from investment abroad for each quarter. What are the likely economic reasons for this? - There is more foreign investment in New Zealand than there is New Zealand investment abroad, ie liabilities are much greater than assets.

• If the New Zealand government gave another country money to help recover from a natural disaster, where in the current account would it be recorded? - Current Account, current assets (debits)

• In the financial account, what happened to New Zealand’s direct investment abroad in the June 2003 quarter? - There was a positive net flow of $1.6b.

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