Wellington, Dec 5 (IANS) Construction work in New Zealand fell to its lowest level in 10 years in the quarter to the end of September, the government statistics agency announced Monday.
Building activity fell 2.3 percent in the quarter due to a drop in non-residential construction, said a statement from Statistics New Zealand.
Non-residential building activity had fallen over the latest three quarters, and the September quarter was at a similar low level as in the December 2009 quarter, reported Xinhua.
Residential building activity remained unchanged, but was at its lowest level in 18 years, said the statement.
The agency said it assessed the effects of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes by comparing building activity in the region with the rest of the country in the September quarter.
‘Overall building activity in Canterbury appeared to have a similar drop as in the rest of New Zealand,’ industry and labor statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said in the statement.
‘However, residential building work in the region seemed to have fallen, while the rest of the country had a small increase. Non-residential building work in Canterbury appeared to have risen, while it fell in the rest of the country.’
The value of all building work in the September quarter was 10.2 billion NZ dollars ($7.94 billion), down 6.5 percent from the September 2010 quarter, with residential building work down 13 percent to 5.49 billion NZ dollars and non-residential building work up 2.2 percent to 4.7 billion NZ dollars.
The New Zealand government stated that it is relying on the reconstruction of Canterbury, which has been hit by a series of major tremors since September last year, to bolster the country’s economic growth.
The New Zealand Treasury Monday lowered its economic growth forecast for the year to March 2013 from 3.4 percent to 3 percent, saying it continued to expect the reconstruction of the Canterbury region to begin in earnest in the second half of 2012 and to offset global economic weakness.
In its twice-yearly economic outlook last month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast a growth rate for next year of 2.5 percent, down from 4.1 percent forecast in May.
It also predicted 3 percent growth in 2013, saying growth would accelerate in the next two years as the reconstruction of Canterbury progressed.
The OECD outlook said post-earthquake rebuilding would provide ongoing stimulus despite a relatively high New Zealand dollar and a weaker global economy that would ‘undermine exports for a time’.
