New Zealand Economy

By Leith van Onselen At a press conference yesterday, RBNZ Governor, Adrian Orr, publicly lashed the New Zealand Bankers’ Association (NZBA) for claiming that taxpayers should bail the sector out in the event of a crisis, and has used these comments as justification for the RBNZ’s capital reforms.

By Leith van Onselen New Zealand’s Labour-led coalition government will tomorrow release the world’s first ‘wellbeing budget’, which will measure its success against how it does socially, culturally and environmentally, rather than relying on GDP – a rather useless measure that most economists and policy makers focus on.

By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released its latest Financial Stability Report (FSR), which explained why banks need to hold more capital: Domestically, debt levels are high in the household and dairy sectors, leaving borrowers and lenders exposed to unanticipated events.

Via the AFR today: New Zealand pub owner Chris Dickson worries his staff is overworked.

By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for April, which revealed a 1.9% seasonally adjusted rise in the national median house price, with prices up just 6.3% year-on-year: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 1.4% in April, with prices up 7.5% year-on-year.

By Leith van Onselen In the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here.

By Leith van Onselen In the wake of recreational cannabis becoming legal in Canada last year, as well as nine states across the United States legalising cannabis, New Zealand will hold a referendum on legalisation during the next general election in 2020.

By Leith van Onselen New Zealand will remain one of the few developed nations in the world not to have a capital gains tax (CGT), after the Labour-led Government yesterday ruled-out implementing such a measure.

By Leith van Onselen In the September 2017 general election, the New Zealand Labour Party launched a plan to reduce immigration by around a third in a bid to relieve chronic housing and infrastructure pressures (especially around Auckland): …in recent years our population has been growing rapidly as record numbers of migrants arrive here.

New Zealand may not have had a royal commission but it knows what it is doing when it comes to reckless Aussie banks.

By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has released national accounts figures for the December quarter of 2018, with Gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 0.6% over the quarter to be up 2.3% year-on-year.

By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for February, which revealed a 0.8% seasonally adjusted rise in the national median house price, with prices up just 5.5% year-on-year: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 1.3% in February, with prices up 8.8% year-on-year.

By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for January, which revealed a 2.9% seasonally adjusted rise in the national median house price, with prices up just 5.2% year-on-year: Outside of Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 2.3% in December, with prices up 9.7% year-on-year.

NZ Stats surprised with rising unemployment this morning versus expected flat: Unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent Underutilisation rate rose to 12.1 percent Employment rate fell to 67.8 percent Filled jobs rose 1.3 percent Average ordinary time hourly earnings rose to $31.63 Wage rates increased 1.9 percent annually.

By Leith van Onselen “Look mum, I’ve got a new ruler”. Statistics New Zealand has revised the way that it measures net overseas migration (NOM).