Workshop on national accounts and financial statistics

The Reserve Bank, in conjunction with Statistics New Zealand, held a workshop in June on New Zealand’s national accounts and financial statistics. Discussions centered on potential improvements to the national accounts for New Zealand, measuring GDP, productivity and the government sector’s activities, and improving financial statistics. Workshop participants supported the development of a full set of national accounts for New Zealand, including financial accounts, which measure changes in financial assets and liabilities, in order to improve understanding of issues related to saving and wealth. There was also support for household surveys that measure the distribution of assets and liabilities across the population. Work on improving the measurement of output and the productivity of services was seen as vital to maintaining accurate measures of real GDP.