This month something different; a short economic review as publicised on the NZ Government website;

New Zealand’s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 6.6 percent in the March 2011 quarter.

There were 155,000 people unemployed in seasonally adjusted terms.

Employment expanded by 1.4 percent over the quarter, driven by a four percent increase in part-time employment. Of some concern, total actual hours worked fell by 0.9 percent.

Business confidence recovered much of the confidence lost last month, following the February earthquake.

There were strong improvements in indicators around own activity outlook, residential building construction, employment and profitability.

Petrol prices remain high, although recent downward movements in international oil prices, may result in lower prices.

Households have increased their expenditure on fuel in each of the last eight months, according to Statistics New Zealand’s electronic card transactions survey, with expenditure rising by an additional 2.1 percent during March. The overall value of electronic card transactions during the month rose by 0.5 percent.

Food prices rose by 5.5 percent in the March 2011 year, with the 1 October rise in rate of GST being a major contributor.

The tourism industry is under pressure (especially in the South Island) with international visitor numbers falling consistently on a trend basis since September last year.

The earthquake and associated Tsunami in Japan, along with the flooding in Australia (two major sources of international visitors to New Zealand) has not helped, neither has the impact of the global financial crisis on the economies of Ireland and the United Kingdom.