The release of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for the March quarter may be delayed for up to two weeks due to disruptions caused by the February 22 earthquake that hit Christchurch, Statistics New Zealand says.
The data was due to be released on June 23.
Government Statistician Geof Bascand told media this morning the extra time would be used to analyse how the earthquake affected Stats NZ's processes for measuring GDP and to get supplementary data for the release.
Other major releases are due to be released on time, such as Balance of Payments data (June 22), the Consumers Price Index (April 18) and the Household Labour Force Survey (May 5).
No data lost
Statistics New Zealand have about 250 of its 950 staff based in Christchurch, with the two buildings they worked in now yellow-stickered and some servers unretrievable. However, no raw data has been lost due to back-ups carried out by Stats NZ, although some processing of the raw data had been lost.
It was likely to be some months before the two buildings were functional again, with staff moving to a floor of the Ministry of Social Development building in Papanui in May, Bascand said.
Census
Meanwhile, Bascand would not be drawn into his thinking on when a census should be held, saying his advice and the decision was now before the government.
The census was cancelled due to the February earthquake for an indefinate period of time. The Statistics Act 1975 states a census must be held every five years from 1976, meaning government will either have to hold it this year, or change the legislation so it can be delayed beyond 2011.
Bascand did indicate however that the cost of 're-holding' this year's census would increase gradually the further delayed it is.
(Updates with info on other major releases, census info)
4 Comments
Here in Singapore , the March quarter GDP grew 23 % from that of a month before . And the rolling year GDP growth now stands at 8.5 % . Manufacturing and precision engineering led the economy . YOY , manufacturing has grown 13.9 % ....... but construction has only popped 2.6 % in the same period .
....... ooooooops ! ..... Sorry Bernard . That is good news . Bloody good news ....... damn silly of me to have posted it here ......
Hey , the Kiwi GDP figger will give you a golden run at gloomsterisationalysing ... Enjoy !
Wow, not bad. That probably explains why the SGD has jumped up 10% against the USD in the last month or so. Oops sorry that's the NZD (zero growth and a per capita recession getting on to 3 years now). Now I got it, SGD up 1.2% in the meantime, so maybe they're on to something that we need a piece of...
Maybe they could delay the release till after the election? Oh and maybe exclude Christchurch from the numbers too?
Of course when this is released it will include the updated December figures, which when all data is reviewed will probably show growth was subzero rather than +0.2% and we were already in recession before this whole downward spiral began.
Do Aucklanders realise that apart from the fringes the whole ChCh CBD is still in lockdown? GDP for ChCh from can't be pretty now that the city's been shutdown for nearly two months.
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