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Fiscal policy receives insufficient attention and will be a major drag on growth over the coming few years. Local government spending is also set to be sharply curtailed. These dynamics are compensated by the rebuild until 2014, but the net impact is monetary policy lower for longer. The DecemberMonetary Policy Statement is expected to be accompanied by a no change decision, …

Chorus, the telecommunications network operator, won’t have to cut its prices for copper-line services as deeply as initially feared after the antitrust regulator set pricing over the unbundled copper local loop. The Commerce Commission has set the new geographically averaged price at $23.52 per month per line from Dec. 1, 2014, a 3.9 percent reduction to the prices set in …

By Stephen Jacobi TPP negotiators meet in Auckland this week to further a plan to create jobs and growth. Everyone agrees — an unemployment rate of 7.2 per cent is unacceptably high. What is less clear is what can be done about it. New Zealand is not alone in this problem — the International Labour Organisation has forecast that in …

Today, China is the second largest consumer of oil, just after the United States. The Documentary investigates the new world geopolitics that is emerging around the needs of both the world’s leading superpower and the world’s fastest growing economy to secure future supplies of oil. This is the final part of  The Battle for Oil.

The historic listing of Fonterra units on the NZX caused mammoth volumes by New Zealand market standards and the biggest listing day stag that investors have seen for years. The non-voting units, which launched at midday today, surged as high as $6.95, a 26 percent stag before closing at $6.85 from an offer price of $5.50. The fund’s turnover was …

The New Zealand dollar is set to end the month virtually unchanged against the greenback as US politicians try to navigate away from the fiscal cliff and trans-Tasman central banks prepare to review monetary policy next week. The kiwi traded at 82.23 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 82.24 cents at 8am, and down from 82.41 cents yesterday. The …

The chief executive of Industrial Research Limited, the Crown Research Institute being folded into the new advanced technology institute, has announced his resignation after six and a half years spent restoring the once-ailing science body’s financial performance. Shaun Coffey said he was leaving “after careful consideration”, and following IRL’s acknowledgement in the last week through a series of awards and …

Heartland New Zealand, which expects to hear back on its banking licence application before Christmas, sees flat profit in the 2013 financial year, and has announced a pre-Christmas special dividend. The Auckland-based lender told shareholders net profit will probably be between $21 million and $24 million in the year ending June 30, 1013 at today’s annual meeting. That compares to …

The Commerce Commission says Auckland electricity network monopoly Vector is wrong to claim it is being subjected to regulated costs of capital higher than its Australian counterparts. Vector has repeatedly made the argument in its protracted argument with the competition regulator, saying Vector faces greater business risks than Australian networks and should be reflected in a higher weighted average cost …

Two American investors have increased their interest in cloud accounting software provider Xero by a total of $82 million, of which $60 million is newly issued capital and $22 million is to purchase of shares from its three largest shareholders. The $22 million is split three ways between director Craig Winkler, chief executive Rod Drury, and co-founder Hamish Edwards, who …