Source: New Zealand Treasury:
The April update of the NZAC index indicates an extremely large spike in activity growth of 40% compared to April 2020. This is due to the index being presented in terms of annual percentage changes. The exceptionally low activity levels in April last year resulting from the nationwide Level 4 lockdown, combined with the normal activity level in April 2021, has resulted in this high annual percentage change. We also expect this sharp spike in activity growth to spill over into next month’s (May) NZAC update.
Key points to note:
- Most of the constituent indicators, such as electronic card spending, light and heavy traffic indices, performance of manufacturing index and activity outlook, show very sharp growth (of more than 100%) compared to April last year. This is due to the unprecedented fall in activity levels in April 2020 resulting from COVID-19 alert level restrictions.
- Jobseeker numbers are continuing to fall, and are at the lowest level since April last year.
The publication date for the next update of the NZAC for May activity is still to be confirmed.
As there is no Weekly Economic Update this week, the NZAC data can be viewed and downloaded on the Stats NZ COVID-19 data portal.
Last updated:
Friday, 21 May 2021
