NZ economy grows at half expected pace in 1Q on drought effect; kiwi falls

Wed, 19 Jun 2013

By Paul McBeth June 20 (BusinessDesk) - The New Zealand economy grew at half the pace analysts were expecting in the first three months of the year as drought across the North Island sapped milk production and dragged the agriculture sector down. The kiwi dollar fell on the numbers. Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent to $37.1 billion in the three months ended March 31, from a pace of 1.5 percent in the December period, according to Statistics New Zealand. That’s half the 0.6 percent rate predicted in a Reuters survey of economists and be...

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