Story: Balance of payments
This graph shows the current account balances of selected countries as a proportion of their gross domestic product. It shows that New Zealand’s deficit is proportionally among the highest of the selected countries. However, there have been some common trends. Since the 1990s, deficits have grown in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, just as in New Zealand. On the other hand, oil-exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Norway and Russia (which are not shown on the graph), and countries with very high savings rates such as China and Japan have run increasing surpluses.
Sources: International Monetary Fund; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Statistics New Zealand
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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
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