N.Z. Growth Exceeds 3% as Wheeler Set to Keep Raising Rates

New Zealand’s annual economic growth exceeded 3 percent for a second straight quarter, buoyed by dairy exports, adding to signs of increasing inflation pressure that may require higher borrowing costs.

Gross domestic product increased 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington today. That’s slower than the revised 3.3 percent pace in the third quarter and matches the median forecast of 11 economists in a Bloomberg survey. GDP rose 0.9 percent from the third quarter, when it increased a revised 1.2 percent.