BOP Data Collection: March 2015

Improved outlier detection methodology for the International Visitors Survey The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) worked with Statistics New Zealand to adopt an improved methodology for identifying and removing the effects of outliers in the International Visitors Survey (IVS). The IVS is the main data source for estimating expenditure by international visitors to New Zealand (exports of travel services). MBIE applied this new outlier methodology to December 2014 quarter IVS results, which form part of exports of travel services in this release, and will use this methodology in future. MBIE also applied the new methodology to IVS results back to the September 2013 quarter, which causes revisions to previously published estimates for expenditure by international visitors to New Zealand. We will adopt these changes in the June 2015 quarter balance of payments and quarterly GDP releases as part of our annual revisions process. Exports of travel services for the March 2014 year will revise downwards by $273 million as a result of this new methodology. See 2015 revisions to New Zealand's macroeconomic accounts for further detail. Overseas reinsurance claims from the Canterbury earthquakes Total international reinsurance claims from all Canterbury earthquakes are now estimated at $20.2 billion, unchanged from the December 2014 quarter. At 31 December 2014, a total of $16.4 billion of these claims had been settled with overseas reinsurers, leaving $3.8 billion of claims outstanding. These outstanding insurance claims are included as assets in New Zealand's international investment position. See the table below for details. Updated reinsurance claim estimates Quarter Reinsurance claims Settlements Total outstanding claims at end of period NZ$(million) Sep 2010 6070 0 6070 Dec 2010 0 0 6070 Mar 2011 13194 59 19206 Jun 2011 872 483 19595 Sep 2011 0 892 18703 Dec 2011 51 1193 17562 Mar 2012 0 1361 16201 Jun 2012 0 1399 14902 Sep 2012 0 1362 13440 Dec 2012 0 1514 11926 Mar 2013 0 1010 10916 Jun 2013 0 1373 9542 Sep 2013 0 1343 8200 Dec 2013 0 1051 7148 Mar 2014 0 1184 5964 Jun 2014 0 544 5420 Sep 2014 0 564 4856 Dec 2014 0 505 4351 Mar 2015 0 575 3776 Total 20188 16412 3776 en-NZ