The seasonally adjusted Gross Domestic Product of the New Zealand increased by 0.8 percent in the second quarter as reported to the data on Thursday. It was updated from 0.6 percent in the previous quarter. On the other hand, the annual GDP remained unchanged at 2.5 percent. This increase was mainly due to the high demand in tourism as more travellers visit the country primarily to take part in the British and Irish Lions rugby tour and the World Master’s games. At the same time, both the retail spending and hotel bookings went up by 2.8 percent. A senior economist predicted that the next quarter will reach the peak of growth with the sudden flock of people in tourism as an initial boost and “rebound” in transport and agriculture sector. Although, the 0.8 percent quarterly increase is not a striking figure as he mentioned. The course of growth is in line with the predictions from analysts but it is a bit lower than the forecast 0.9 percent of the central bank. There is a low chance for data on Thursday to affect the decision of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and will still go with the course of keeping the borrowing rates at record low of 1.75 percent. Currently, the economy of New Zealand implies that there is growth following along the forecast in August Monetary policy meeting forecast.
PAUTAN SEGERA