Private sector debt in New Zealand stood at $456bn in March 2019, the equivalent of almost $92,000 for each of our 4,957,400 men, women and children. This article explores the key contributors to this debt, as well as basic rules of thumb to put this debt in context.
Business confidence has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. The irony is that the Reserve Bank’s August OCR cut, which was much bigger than market expectations, has spooked businesses rather than boosted them as had been intended.
The Reserve Bank’s target interest rate, the Official Cash Rate (OCR) has been slashed to a record low of 1.00%. Against a backdrop of a burgeoning international trade war, Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is worried about being left behind in an international race-to-the-bottom to devalue currencies and support exporters.
Wage pressures have mounted, at a time when the economy has shown signs of slowing. To counteract the risk of a slowdown becoming entrenched, the RBNZ is likely to cut the OCR again at its next review in August.
This Top 10 explores ways of getting into financial health and avoiding debt-traps from spending increases to your […]
At the risk of sounding like a bore, this post deals with the housing market. But instead of […]