Winston Peters' speech made some claims about the state of the New Zealand economy and its immediate prospects.
That means it is a good time to record just where things are at so it can be used as a benchmark in the future.
Here are some of the markers he referred to, plus a number others that are equally relevant:
| Benchmark: 19-Oct-17 | Source | NZ$ | NZ$ | US$ | |
| 2008 | 2017 | ||||
| Consumer confidence | ANZ-Roy Morgan | 102.3 | 126.3 | ||
| Crown surplus (bln) | Treasury | -$0.5 | +$12.3 | +$8.8 | |
| Exchange rate TWI-17 | RBNZ | 63.3 | 75.6 | ||
| Government net debt bln | Treasury | $10.2 | $66.3 | $47.5 | |
| Country's net overseas liabilities % GDP | RBNZ | -80.4% | -58.5% | ||
| Exports (Goods + Services) bln pa | Stats NZ | $45.0 | $71.8 | $51.4 | |
| Current account deficit bln | Stats NZ | -$14.1 | -$7.5 | -$5.4 | |
| C/A as % of GDP | Stats NZ | -7.5% | -2.8% | ||
| Unemployment rate | Stats NZ | 4.1% | 4.6% | ||
| Employment rate | Stats NZ | 65.4% | 67.8% | ||
| Participation rate | Stats NZ | 68.0% | 70.6% | ||
| Inflation / CPI | Stats NZ | +5.1% | +1.9% | ||
| Official cash rate | RBNZ | 7.50% | 1.75% | ||
| 2 year fixed mortgage rate (avg) | interest.co.nz | 8.56% | 4.78% | ||
| GDP growth | Stats NZ | -1.7% | +2.7% | ||
| Median income, week | Stats NZ | $919 | $1,807 | $1,294 | |
| Median house price $(000) | REINZ | $335 | $525 | $376 | |
| Median rent $/week 3br house | MBIE | $295 | $400 | $286 | |
| Health spending (bln) pa | Treasury | $11.9 | $16.8 | $12.0 | |
| Income tax rate (max) | IRD | 39% | 33% | ||
| GST | IRD | 12.5% | 15% | ||
| Annual net permanent migration (000) | Stats NZ | +4.3 | +72.1 | ||
| Core public service (000) FTE | SSC | 45.9 | 48.9 | ||
| Number of people on a benefit (000) | MSD | 269.6 | 277.2 | ||
| Population (mln) | Stats NZ | 4.270 | 4.818 | ||
The US dollar equivalents are recorded so that these benchmarks can be assessed on an exchange-rate adjusted basis. (NZ$1 = U$0.7163)
8 Comments
Government Debt
good point. In there now
Excellent idea
Brilliant idea. I'd like to see some more granularity in housing e.g. Regional medians. Numbers built. Affordability. Maybe civil service size as well.
Good idea on Public Service staffing levels. The June 2017 data is due to be released in December 2017 sometime. As at June 2016 it was 45,895. I will add the 2017 data to this benchmark table when it becomes available.
Are there snap shots of this same data set going back previous years so we can look at any trends etc?
Might want to add the raw GDP and maybe NZ Population, to normalise some of the raw data already here.
If anybody has been taking notice, Michael Reddell aka Croaking Cassandra regards GDP per person as far more important than GDF Growth which is the current sham statistic we have been fed for the last few years.
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