Source: New Zealand Treasury:
The February update of the Treasury’s Regional Activity Indices (RAIs) was released today.
Key points to note:
- Activity growth in the northernmost regions of the North Island (Northland, Auckland and Waikato) fell marginally with the temporary escalations in alert levels in February. This was reflected by falls in consumer card spending, light traffic and electricity grid demand in these regions.
- Regions in the lower South Island (Canterbury, West Coast, Otago, Southland) did register a modest uptick in activity in February. Overall, however, growth in these regions remains below their respective long-term averages.
For more details, you’ll find the RAIs in this week’s Weekly Economic Update.
The Regional Activity Indices (RAIs) are a set of experimental indicators that seek to track how regional economies are performing in near real-time.
The RAIs will be updated 2-3 weeks after the close of each month and will be published within the Treasury’s Weekly Economic Update.
The data for the RAIs, as well as most of the input data, is available to view and download on the Stats NZ COVID-19 data portal. Further documentation on how to use the indices, and how they are constructed, is also available from the RAI page on the Treasury website.
Last updated:
Friday, 19 March 2021
