In March, a total of 5,330 sa number of people migrated to New Zealand. Even though this is the lowest monthly inflow in nine months, it continues to be strong overall. The net inflow of migrants in annualized terms was slightly below 70k in Q1 2016, not much below November’s peak of 72k.
The country has recorded a net PLT inflow of 67,619 people in the past 12 months, equal to 1.5% of the resident population. The solid PLT inflows suggest a mixture of factors. PLT inflows are surpassing departures by two to one.
The large number of migration inflows are underpinning supply and demand sides of the economy, thereby leading to wider economic activity, noted ANZ. Therefore the effect of inflation is slightly unclear. Net immigration inflows cyclically drive the New Zealand’s economy, added ANZ. Net inflows are likely to moderate slightly off record levels. However, it is unlikely that it will happen soon in spite of moderate rebound in the global outlook, especially for the Australian economy, according to ANZ.
In March, visitor arrivals grew sharply on a seasonally adjusted basis by 4.1% m/m and 18% y/y. A total of 3.26 million people arrived annually.
