WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's current account deficit widened to its largest in nine years in the third quarter, official statistics showed on Wednesday.
The annual deficit to September was NZ$10.539 billion ($7.21 billion), higher than the NZ$9.536 billion forecast on average by analysts, and equating to 3.6 percent of gross domestic product.
The result was largely driven by a NZ$2.2 billion fall in the goods and surplus services between 2017 and 2018, although a NZ$1.6 billion rise in New Zealand income for foreign companies also contributed.
"The income that foreign investors earned in New Zealand increased more than the income New Zealand investors made abroad," said international statistics senior manager Peter Dolan.
The New Zealand dollar <NZD=D4> edged down slightly to around $0.6844 from $0.6850 after the release.
The seasonally adjusted quarterly deficit was NZ$2.56 billion, compared with NZ$2.662 billion in the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Peter Cooney)
