New Zealand's debt to the rest of the world fell in the first three months of this year.
Statistics New Zealand says this was due mainly to the Christchurch earthquakes.
The current account, which measures income flows in and out of the country, was in deficit by $1.8 billion and smaller than the $2.8 billion deficit in the final three months of last year.
Statistics New Zealand says the reduction in the deficit was due mainly to lower profits by foreign-owned insurance companies hit by the Christchurch quakes.
New Zealand also exported more than it imported, to the tune of $842 million - some $232 million higher than the December quarter trade surplus - due mainly to better export prices.
The country's overall liabilities, once assets held overseas by New Zealanders are accounted for, also fell in the March quarter to $148 billion, its lowest level since 2007.
But that fall - the biggest ever for a single quarter - was due to an increase in assets arising from expected future insurance claims.
