New Zealand earned more income from our overseas investments in the December 2016 quarter, Stats NZ said today. This resulted in the lowest current account deficit since March 2014. The seasonally adjusted current account deficit decreased to $1.6 billion for the December 2016 quarter, $420 million smaller the September 2016 quarter's deficit.

"New Zealand earned $2.0 billion from investment overseas, $129 million more than in the September quarter," international statistics senior manager Daria Kwon said. "A large portion of this extra income was reinvested back into the overseas subsidiaries, instead of being paid out as dividends."

New Zealand's primary income deficit decreased to $2.0 billion in the December 2016 quarter, $140 million lower than in the September 2016 quarter deficit. Primary income comes mostly from investments. Typically, dividends are returned to New Zealand investors from overseas investments twice a year, not in every quarter.

At 31 December 2016, New Zealand had $240.6 billion of investment abroad (financial assets). On the flip side, foreign investments in New Zealand (financial liabilities) were valued at $397.1 billion.