New Zealand posted a seasonally adjusted current account surplus of NZ$340 million in the September quarter, its first surplus since the December quarter of 1988. The current account deficit for the year to September was NZ$5.7 billion or 3.1% of GDP. This was substantially below the NZ$15.4 billion and 8.4% of GDP seen a year ago. It was also below most market expectations.

The better result was driven mostly by lower profits by foreign owned businesses in New Zealand and at least partly by NZ$2 billion of surprise tax collections from New Zealand's Australian-owned banks after High Court tax rulings.

Here's what Stats NZ had to say below:

Foreign-owned companies earned lower profits in New Zealand and interest paid on overseas debt also fell, the latter reflecting the fall in market interest rates over this time. More than $2.0 billion in company tax transactions influenced the fall in income from foreign investment in New Zealand during the year ended September 2009.

However, the overall picture remains the same when these effects are removed "“ the investment income deficit would have fallen $3.7 billion between the years ended September 2008 and September 2009. Additionally, the current account deficit for the September 2009 year would be $7.8 billion, or 4.2 percent of GDP, excluding the tax transactions.

Net international liabilities were $173.3 billion (93.7 percent of GDP) at 30 September 2009, compared with $171.7 billion (93.3 percent of GDP) at 30 June 2009.