WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's current account deficit widened in the second quarter, official data showed on Wednesday, led by a jump in the primary income deficit as payments to foreign investors outpaced New Zealanders' earnings on overseas assets.
The quarterly deficit was NZ$1.619 billion ($1.07 billion) in the three months to June, Statistics New Zealand said, higher than the NZ$1.05 billion forecast by economists.
The result compared to a small surplus of NZ$88 million in the previous quarter.
The annual deficit to June was NZ$9.536 billion, the highest annual deficit since 2009, and equating to 3.3 percent of gross domestic product.
The New Zealand dollar <NZD=D4> edged down a little from $0.6597 to $0.6588 in the wake of the release.
"The annual deficit does look a bit sadder," said Miles Workman, economist at ANZ Bank. "Overall it doesn't change our view on where we think GDP (gross domestic product) is going to land tomorrow."
ANZ Bank expects quarterly growth of 0.7 percent in the second quarter when figures are published by Statistics New Zealand on Thursday, in line with the average forecasts of 10 economist polled by Reuters.
The primary current account income deficit of NZ$2.1 billion occurred as payments to foreign investors outpaced New Zealanders' earnings from overseas investments.
The seasonally adjusted quarterly deficit was NZ$2.666 billion, shrinking from NZ$3.15 billion in the previous quarter, on the back of strong exports.
($1 = 1.5179 New Zealand dollars)
(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Eric Meijer)
