I normally don’t have much to say on the economic update provided by Treasury each month, as it is mainly just a look back at historical data. However, this time around they seem to have infused their release with negative undertones – suggesting that Treasury may be looking at providing a weaker set of forecasts […]
A post at Kiwiblog reminded me of an issue I have wanted to discuss for a while – the optimality of capital market intervention. In this post I aim to discuss some of the basic issues surrounding capital market intervention from a selfish-country perspective. Furthermore, I want to paint a picture where capital market intervention […]
Inflation is an important issue for everyone in New Zealand at the moment, with rising food and oil prices driving our annual inflation rate has fallen outside the Reserve Bank’s target band (hitting 3.2%pa in December). The fact that inflationary pressures are elevated will make it difficult for monetary policy to respond to any slide […]
I find it weird when people tell me that we should not cut taxes because a slowdown in the economy means we are going to run a fiscal deficit. Now you might think I’m weird for thinking its weird – after all many people see it as equivalent to this: think of it like a […]
It came as no great surprise that the official cash rate was left on hold today. As a result, attention should move to the statement and the forecasts. What struck me in the statement was this: “The outlook for economic activity has deteriorated somewhat since we reviewed the OCR in January.” That has to be […]
Yesterday the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted their official cash rate to 7.25%, only 100 basis points off the New Zealand rate. The accompanying statement is here. I’m still unsure about how to read these new RBA statements – they are a little less focused than the RBNZ ones, often trying to focus on as […]