New Zealand Has NZ$698 Million Trade Surplus

(RTTNews) - New Zealand posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of NZ$698 million in March, Statistics New Zealand said on Monday.

That beat expectations for a trade surplus of NZ$175 million following the downwardly revised NZ$365 deficit in February (originally -NZ$257 million).

Exports rose 7.3 percent on year to NZ$7.94 billion, up from the downwardly revised NZ$6.52 billion in the previous month (originally NZ$6.63 billion).

Imports climbed an annual 9.6 percent to NZ$7.25 billion, up from the downwardly revised NZ$6.88 billion a month earlier (originally NZ$6.89 billion).

For the year to March, New Zealand has a NZ$3.190 billion trade deficit.