Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin articles March 2012
All articles are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You can download the free Acrobat PDF reader from the Adobe website.
March 2012 (Vol. 75, no. 1)
Download the complete issue of the March 2012 Bulletin (PDF 1.8 MB)
Articles
Editor’s Note (PDF 1.2MB)
The
evolution of prudential supervision in New Zealand (PDF
1.2MB)
By Toby Fiennes and Cavan O’Connor Close
This article reviews how the Reserve Bank’s prudential supervision activities have evolved over the last five years. During this period, three major impacts on prudential supervision have been the global financial crisis (GFC), the collapse of nearly 50 finance companies and the Canterbury earthquakes. The article discusses the implementation of the new prudential regimes for the Non-Bank Deposit Taking (NBDT) and insurance sectors, both of which have been established following the government’s Review of Financial Products and Providers (2006). It also highlights how the GFC in particular has led to a rebalancing in prudential supervision. While self- and market discipline remain key pillars of prudential supervision, there is now greater emphasis on regulatory discipline, including tighter regulatory standards and a more active engagement between the Reserve Bank and the regulated entities.
Business cycle
review, 1998-2011 (PDF 1.5MB)
By Willy Chetwin
This article analyses New Zealand’s economic expansion from 1998 to 2007, the contraction that followed in 2008-09, and the gradual recovery thereafter. The expansion was long and large by the country’s post-war standards, while the contraction was marginally longer but shallower than the norm. An important driver of the expansion was a long and sustained rise in the terms of trade, in part reflecting expansion in the Asian region, especially China. A sharp rise in net immigration early in the period, a marked increase in the use of credit funded from offshore, and rising government spending were also important influences. The strong New Zealand dollar was another important factor, eroding competitiveness in parts of the tradable-producing sector and helping fuel demand for non-tradable goods and services. Balance sheets of households, farms and businesses became increasingly stretched over the period, a factor that has dampened the speed of recovery over the past three years.
A brief
history of monetary policy objectives and independence in New
Zealand (PDF 1.2MB)
By James Graham and Christie
Smith
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 decades following the Bank’s establishment in 1934. This article traces the changes in the legislation governing monetary policy and outlines some of the influences on the evolution of monetary policy objectives and the role of the Reserve Bank in conducting monetary policy.
The New Zealand
Debt Conversion Act 1933: a case study in coercive domestic public debt
restructuring (PDF 1.2MB)
By Michael Reddell
New Zealand entered the Great Depression with very large public and private debts. The burden of those debts was greatly exacerbated by the unexpected size of the fall in real incomes and in the price level. In 1931 and 1932, the government passed legislation to ease pressure on private creditors, and in 1933 followed Australia’s lead in using legislation to compel domestic holders of existing government debt to accept a lower interest rate on that debt. The conversion operation appears to have had a number of goals. The fiscal savings were significant, although probably not decisive. It was also hoped that cutting interest rates on outstanding domestic debt might make external creditors more receptive to lowering the cost of New Zealand’s substantial offshore public debt. Perhaps as importantly, the conversion operation was one more piece in an ongoing programme of measures to adjust to, and reverse, some of the redistributive effects of the unexpected steep fall in the price level.
For the Record (PDF 1.1MB)
Recent discussion papers, news releases and publications from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The views expressed are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Articles published in this Bulletin may not be wholly or substantially reproduced without the permission of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Data, brief extracts from articles, and other material appearing in the Bulletin, may be used without restriction provided due acknowledgement is made of the source.
