New Zealand recorded a smaller than expected deficit of NZ$4.49 billion (US$3.14 billion) in the eight months to the end of February, largely due to reduced government spending, the finance minister said Friday.

New Zealand's home-building approvals rose for the first time in three months in February, adding to signs residential construction will help buoy economic growth this year.

A Hong Kong-based investment group says it wants to invest up to US$1.1 billion in New Zealand's dairy industry to make high-quality infant formula and long-life milk products for the Chinese market.

New Zealand's annual current account deficit fell to its lowest level for eight years in 2009 due to declining imports during a long economic slowdown, official figures showed Wednesday.

New Zealand on Monday hit back at a group of 30 U.S. senators who accused the country's dairy industry of anticompetitive practices, as a first round of talks ended for a free trade agreement.

New Zealand views a free-trade agreement with India as “vital,” Trade Minister Tim Groser said in a television interview Sunday.

New Zealand will next month close a wholesale funding guarantee introduced at the height of the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Bill English said Wednesday.

New Zealand house prices climbed for a fifth month in February, fueled by increased demand for property in the nation's largest cities as the economy emerges from a recession.

It's economical, ecological and good exercise: a new human-powered monorail is attracting the crowds in New Zealand, and may become a new mode of transport within cities.

The New Zealand economy, which is pulling out of recession, is on track for a “bumpy and subdued recovery,” a leading think tank forecast on Monday.