Monthly Archives January 2010

New Zealand OCR Remains Unchanged

January 31, 2010 New Zealand Finance

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 and is expected to remain within the area over the medium term.

The New Zealand OCR has remained at 2.5 percent since April 30th, 2009. It has been unchanged through six OCR review announcements...

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Avatar Brings $307m to NZ Economy

January 27, 2010 New Zealand Finance

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 million in tax rebates.

The LBSPG was instituted in the Taxation (GST, Trans-Tasman Imputation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003 and originally provided a 12.5 percent tax rebate on aspects of productions that exceeded a preset expenditure level...

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New Reserve Bank Director Appointed

January 26, 2010 New Zealand Finance

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 candidates with an understanding of both macroeconomic and real-world business principals for the positions. He continued on to say that both candidates posses the required strong economic backgrounds and experience within a range of ventures...

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Summary of the Tax Working Group’s Final Report

January 21, 2010 New Zealand Finance, New Zealand Taxation

The Tax Working Group has released its final report on New Zealand’s taxation system, recommending numerous changes to a system it labels as incoherent, along with lacking on integrity and fairness.

After month of waiting, the New Zealand Government and people can see the results of the Tax Working Group’s analysis of the country’s taxation landscape. The results are less than flattering and thirteen primary changes have been proposed to adress the situation.

According to the Tax Working Group’s report New Zealand‘s tax system is inappropriate and relies too heavily on the very taxes that are most harming to economic growth, specifically personal and corporate income taxes...

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