New Zealand’s Treasury Monthly Economic Indicators

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The Forecasting and Monitoring team in New Zealand’s Treasury published its Monthly Economic Indicators (MEI) report for November 2018, with the key highlights found below.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in the September quarter, but wage pressures remain subdued.

Retail sales volumes were flat in the September quarter.

Brexit-related uncertainty continued in November, adding to worries of a global growth slowdown.

Special topics summarise views from our HYEFU 2018 business talks and assess our forecast accuracy.

This came just shortly after the new Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Consensus Forecasts showed the growth outlook broadly unchanged.

Further Details:

Growth outlook broadly unchanged from previous quarter.

Over the coming year, a softer outlook for investment is offset by expectations of stronger export growth.

Business confidence has fallen sharply over the past year … profitability continuing to deteriorate there are signs it is impacting negatively on investment intentions.

However, hiring still solid and wage growth picking up, increased household income is supporting spending.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

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