The current account is the widest measure of a country's financial performance on an international basis because it includes investment flows as well as trade in goods and services.
From the Release: "The current account deficit for the year ended March 2008 was $13,787 million (7.8 percent of GDP), compared with $13,837 million for the year ended December 2007 (7.9 percent of GDP).
New Zealand's seasonally adjusted current account deficit for the March 2008 quarter was $3,527 million, $410 million larger than the December 2007 quarter.
There was a net inflow of capital into New Zealand of $2.0 billion in the March 2008 quarter.
New Zealand's net international liabilities were $153.2 billion at 31 March 2008, an increase of 1.2 percent from the December 2007 quarter."
Lower Current Account decifit for the Q1 was mainly driven by higher growth in exports than imports. The Goods component saw exports of dairy products soar. Services saw a surplus driven be travel and transportation services. Invesment saw a wider deficit due to higher income earnings from investments by foreigners.
