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New Zealand Records 7% Annual Increase in New Lending in June

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New Zealand recorded NZ$16.1 billion of new lending in June, up 1.7% from May and over 7% higher compared with the same month a year earlier, according to data published Wednesday by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Total monthly new residential lending increased to NZ$8.3 billion in June from NZ$8.2 billion in the previous month, but was down nearly 4% from the year-ago reading of NZ$8.7 billion.

Total new business lending, excluding agriculture, was NZ$3.9 billion in June, up from NZ$3.4 billion in May and marking an increase of NZ$351 million from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, agriculture new lending totaled NZ$3.1 billion in June, rising from NZ$2.5 billion in May and up by nearly 48% compared with a year ago, the data showed.

New consumer lending increased by over 3% from the previous month and by nearly 11% from a year earlier to NZ$236 million in June.

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