The New Zealand economy notched up another quarter of solid growth, showing that the government’s responsible and consistent economic programme continues to deliver results, Finance Minister Bill English says.

Statistics New Zealand today reported gross domestic product grew 0.9 per cent in the three months to 31 December 2015. This took annual growth over 2015 to 2.3 per cent.

“We had had a softer start to 2015, so it is pleasing to see that growth picked up again in the second half of the year,” Mr English says.

Growth in the December quarter was led by service industries, which make up 70 per cent of the economy and grew 0.8 per cent overall. Agriculture activity fell 1.7 per cent in the quarter, but remains up 3.7 per cent over 2015.

New Zealand’s growth rate of 0.9 per cent in the December quarter compared positively with other developed countries - with 0.6 per cent in Australia, 0.5 per cent in the United Kingdom and 0.3 per cent in the United States. The OECD average was 0.3 per cent.

“Despite the dairy industry doing it tough at the moment, we are in the unusual situation of solid growth, more employment and higher wages, but very low inflation.

“The outlook remains for continued moderate economic growth. In fact Treasury’s Half-Year Update forecast growth averaging around 3 per cent over calendar 2016 and 2017.

“The government is focused on responsible and consistent economic reform to give businesses the confidence to invest another dollar and employ another person in order to deliver more jobs and higher wages for New Zealand families.”