The Productivity Commission has New Zealand’s regulatory regimes in its sights with the launch of an inquiry aiming to improve the design and operation of the nation’s watchdogs and rule-makers. Finance Minister Bill English and Regulatory Reform Minister John Banks want the commission look across the diversity of the country’s regulatory system with a view to draw conclusions and recommendations …

New Zealand’s annual inflation may have returned to 14-year lows in the second quarter as a record high currency weighed on prices of imported clothing, competition drove down telecommunications costs and fuel costs fell. The consumer price Index rose 0.3 percent in the second quarter for an annual pace of 0.8 percent, according to a Reuters survey of 10 economists …

The government’s plan to auction 4G spectrum in September or October faces delay, with Maori claimants to spectrum rights reactivating a dormant claim to the Waitangi Tribunal by seeking an urgent hearing on the claim. The tribunal’s chief judge Wilson Isaac issued a direction for an urgent remedies hearing yesterday after receiving an application on July 4 to reactivate the …