Statistics New Zealand released its current account data on late Tuesday evening. New Zealand's seasonally adjusted current account deficit widened to NZ$1.95 billion in the fourth quarter from NZ$1.72 billion from the third quarter.

The rise in deficit was driven by a drop in earnings from both goods and services exports.

The services surplus fell by NZ$14 million to NZ$977 million in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, while the goods deficit climbed by NZ$277 million to NZ$810 million.

"While lower petrol prices caused the value of imports to decrease, the fall in dairy prices in the latest quarter had a bigger impact on our exports, resulting in a larger deficit," international statistics manager Stuart Jones said.