WELLINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's seasonally adjusted current account deficit for the March 2018 quarter was 3 billion NZ dollars (2.1 billion U.S. dollars), the country's statistics department Stats NZ said on Wednesday.

This was the largest current account deficit since the 2008 global financial crisis and was due to a drop in exports and record high imports, Stats NZ said.

The current account deficit was 2.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the March 2018 year, compared with the 7.8-percent peak in 2008, it said.

The current account balance records the value of New Zealand's transactions with the rest of the world in goods, services, and income. It is an important indicator of the economy's health.

New Zealand has a current account deficit when it spends more than it earns from transactions with the rest of the world.

The goods deficit widened to 1.7 billion NZ dollars (1.17 billion U.S. dollars) in the March 2018 quarter, due to strong imports of petroleum and machinery and equipment such as tractors, according to Stats NZ.

"We had a record value of imported goods this quarter, which continued a trend of rising imports," international statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said in a statement.