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New Zealand's Economy in Numbers: A $931B Story

Analysis of NZ's 2023 enterprise income reaching $931B (+27% in 3 years) across 119 industries. Reveals record revenue but declining profitability, with pre-tax surplus dropping 15% from 2022 peak as expenditure grows faster than income. Wholesale trade and manufacturing lead sectors.

APAkashdeep Patra
May 15, 2026
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Chapter 1
11:15 PM
AP

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Annual Enterprise Survey 2023.csv7.7 MB
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New Zealand's Economy in Numbers: A $931B Story


Here's the headline: New Zealand's enterprises collectively pulled in $931 billion in income in 2023 โ€” up 27% from just three years ago. That's not organic growth, that's a rocket.
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This dataset is the NZ Annual Enterprise Survey 2023 โ€” a comprehensive snapshot of 119 industries, 41 financial variables, and 50,985 data records spanning 11 years. It's basically the financial health report for the entire New Zealand economy.
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๐Ÿ“ˆ Four Years of Relentless Growth


Income grew every single year โ€” through COVID, supply shocks, and rate hikes. The NZ economy didn't just survive; it scaled.
NZ Total Enterprise Income (All Industries)

NZ Total Enterprise Income (All Industries)

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The Compound Effect

The Compound Effect

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๐Ÿ’ก The Margin Squeeze Nobody's Talking About


Here's where it gets interesting. Revenue is up โ€” but the surplus (pre-tax profit) tells a very different story.
Income vs Expenditure vs Surplus (NZ All Industries)

Income vs Expenditure vs Surplus (NZ All Industries)

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Notice that surplus peaked in 2022 at $124.5B โ€” then dropped to $105.5B in 2023, even as income hit an all-time high. Expenditure is growing faster than income. The economy is running hotter, but keeping less of what it earns.
Pre-Tax Surplus: 2022 vs 2023

Pre-Tax Surplus: 2022 vs 2023

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๐Ÿญ Who's Driving the Engine?


Wholesale Trade sits at the top โ€” but the spread tells you a lot about NZ's economic structure.
Top 10 Industries by Total Income (2023, NZ$M)

Top 10 Industries by Total Income (2023, NZ$M)

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What This Data Is Telling Us

What This Data Is Telling Us

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The big question to ask next: Which specific industries are driving the cost blowout in 2023? And is the margin compression concentrated in a few sectors โ€” or is it economy-wide? That's the thread worth pulling. ๐Ÿงต

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