The Reserve Bank maintains a range of exchange rate indices which summarise developments in the New Zealand dollar, by aggregating various bilateral exchange rates that are relevant to New Zealand’s economy. In this article, we review some of the issues involved in doing this aggregation. From...

The terms of trade are a key influence on New Zealand’s economy, and have often been quite volatile. This article compares New Zealand’s experience with those of a group of other advanced economies. Cycles in New Zealand’s terms of trade have been relatively large, but similar to those in...

New Zealand’s current account deficit is the counterpart of a low rate of national saving relative to domestic investment. Persistent current account deficits have led to the build-up of a large net international investment position (NIIP) financed largely through foreign debt with short...

In late 2010 and in 2011, Canterbury endured a series of major earthquakes. Overall, the Canterbury economy has been reasonably resilient to the impact of the earthquakes, and the spillover to other regions in New Zealand has been limited. Goods exports and manufacturing activity appear to have...

The legislative framework for monetary policy has been fairly settled for more than 20 years. This stability contrasts with the frequent revisions that occurred to statutory provisions dealing with monetary policy objectives and the relationship between the Reserve Bank and the government in the...