
More mums, same number of babies
NZers are only half as busy having babies as they were 40 years ago, but with today's larger population a similar number of babies - nearly 65,000 - were born last year.
NZers are only half as busy having babies as they were 40 years ago, but with today's larger population a similar number of babies - nearly 65,000 - were born last year.
Food prices rose 1.8 per cent in January, with the cost of fruit and vegetables going up 7.4 per cent, said Statistics New Zealand today.
After a long period of gloom, retailers are welcoming news from Stats NZ that January saw the largest monthly increase in electronic card spending for five years.
Salary and wage rates, including overtime, grew 1.7 per cent in the year to the December quarter, says Statistics New Zealand.
Building consent figures fell sharply in December, with one economist saying they probably cannot get any worse.
Retail sales rose a 1.5 per cent or $82 million in November from October, boosted by rises to vehicle and fuel sales, Statistics New Zealand says.
Exports were up 19 per cent in November with the annual trade balance for that month a surplus of $1.3 billion - the first since 2001.
Falling fuel prices helped lift New Zealand's terms of trade 3 per cent in the September quarter.