High commodity prices appear to be boosting economic activity in rural areas.
A regional trends survey by the National Bank, which can be considered a rough pointer to Gross Domestic Product, shows activity rose 0.8% in the three months to the end of June.
That follows a 0.1% contraction in March and 0.2% rise in the December quarter.
The survey shows the Canterbury region grew 1.9% from the previous quarter's 2.5% contraction.
Southland recorded the largest quarterly increase in activity, with a 2.1% rise, followed by Waikato with 2% growth.
National Bank economist Steve Edwards says there appears to be a turnaround in the rural regions.
He says the rural regions (which include all regions except Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury) had a 1.3% rise across those regions.
Mr Edwards says there was only a 0.4% rise in the urban regions of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury.
He says commodity prices peaked in the June quarter and there's now a wait for the wealth in the rural sector to filter through to the wider economic community.
Bay of Plenty and West Coast recorded the strongest annual growth, at 1.9%, followed by Auckland and Otago at 1.5%.
Northland's economy recorded the lowest year-on-year change, dropping 1.2%.
