The New Zealand Official Cash Rate (OCR) was left unchanged at its latest review. At the quarterly Reserve Bank OCR Review, on January 28th, it was announced that the rate would remain at its current level of 2.5 percent. Alan Bollard, Reserve Bank Governor, said that the decision comes as a result of the economy remaining consistent with projections made in the December Monetary Policy Statement. He continued on to say that the annual CPI inflation is situated squarely in the target band ... Read More

The box-office hit Avatar has attracted in excess of NZD307 million to the New Zealand economy during the time of its filming in the country. According to a press release issued by Gerry Brownlee, Economic Development Minister of New Zealand, on January 24th, the award winning film delivered millions of dollars in expenditure to the economy. He claimed that this boon would not have been possible without the government’s Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG) scheme, from which Avatar has already received NZD44.69 ... Read More

Bill English, the New Zealand Minister of Finance, has announced that two new directorship appointments have been made to the board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Neil Quigley, a Victoria University Professor of Economics, and Kerrin Vautier, an Auckland-based consulting research economist, were announced to have received the positions on January 19th. The two new appointees replace Alison Paterson and Sir John Goulter, who have served fifteen and ten years respectively in the positions. According to Bill English, the Government was seeking ... Read More