Statistics New Zealand figures released yesterday showed in the year ended February, 71,300 more migrants arrived in New Zealand than left. There was a small dip in the February month's net gain of 6000 from 6420 in January. ''If that trend continues, it won't take long for net migration to move past 72,000 in a year.'' Westpac acting chief economist Michael Gordon said the increase in departures of non-New Zealand citizens had been a feature of forecasts for some time and was largely an echo of the strong inflows of non-New Zealand citizens in recent years. Once again, arrivals from the United Kingdom were strong and, for the past nine months, each month's arrivals had been a year-on-year improvement.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 21, 2017 17:03 UTC