New Zealand's home-building approvals dropped for the second month and imports dipped to a five- year low as the nation is still undergoing economic crisis.

According to Statistics New Zealand, permits declined 2.8% in January from a month earlier, when they fell a revised 3.5%. Imports dropped 12% from a year earlier to NZ$2.9 billion, the lowest since February 2005.

Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard said last month that he is unlikely to raise interest rates from a record low until the middle of 2010.

"It is becoming clear the economy shut up shop in December and January", said Philip Borkin, an Economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere Ltd. in Auckland. "This fits with our view of a modest but patchy economic recovery".

New Zealand's Dollar has fallen 4.4% this year as investors reduced bets that Bollard would start raising borrowing costs as early as March.

According to a poll of 1,000 people conducted for Television New Zealand Feb. 17, only few consumers expect the economy will get better over the next year.

Home-building approvals saw a decline in January as home-loan interest rates rose, adding to signs that construction may not contribute as much to the economy as previously expected.