New Zealand stops printing money early.

[Ishm]

Well the 'worlds hardest covid lockdown' coupled with tight border control has seen the NZ Reserve Bank (equiv of the Fed I guess) announce that they are stopping their QE/bond buying/money printing etc a year earlier than planned. Much lower than forecast unemployment, much less govt covid stimulus spending than first expected, and much faster economic recovery overall, coupled with inflation close to their 2% target and a massive boom in property values will likely see interest rates rise in November this year as well. Things rapidly getting back to pre covid levels or above even with their borders still closed to tourism. Their vaccine rollout is behind some other nations, but mass deliveries of shots have now started so on track to have everyone who wants it vax'd up later this year.

Looking to work offshore for a while and have good qualifications? NZ is already screaming about a skills shortage and starting to make allowance for importing key skills through their covid border isolation system. Be warned though, right now you must still wear a mask on public transport even though they haven't had any community spread covid cases for months now.

 

[maxparrish]

Well the 'worlds hardest covid lockdown' coupled with tight border control has seen the NZ Reserve Bank (equiv of the Fed I guess) announce that they are stopping their QE/bond buying/money printing etc a year earlier than planned. Much lower than forecast unemployment, much less govt covid stimulus spending than first expected, and much faster economic recovery overall, coupled with inflation close to their 2% target and a massive boom in property values will likely see interest rates rise in November this year as well. Things rapidly getting back to pre covid levels or above even with their borders still closed to tourism. Their vaccine rollout is behind some other nations, but mass deliveries of shots have now started so on track to have everyone who wants it vax'd up later this year.

Looking to work offshore for a while and have good qualifications? NZ is already screaming about a skills shortage and starting to make allowance for importing key skills through their covid border isolation system. Be warned though, right now you must still wear a mask on public transport even though they haven't had any community spread covid cases for months now.

Wise policy. As we are on the cusp of passing a 3.5 trillion dollar goodie package, while suffering an 5.4% increase in inflation just announced (much higher than forecasted) and still paying people to not work...well, this country is insane.

 

[Ug make hammer]

Wise policy. As we are on the cusp of passing a 3.5 trillion dollar goodie package, while suffering an 5.4% increase in inflation just announced (much higher than forecasted) and still paying people to not work...well, this country is insane.

It's only a wise policy in the context of having virtually zero history of Covid infections. Those were clamped down on (and I'm sure there were protests) but fundamentally NZ has the advantage of being islands.

I can't believe they're considering work visas. Business always gets its way I guess.

 

[Ishm]

It's only a wise policy in the context of having virtually zero history of Covid infections. Those were clamped down on (and I'm sure there were protests) but fundamentally NZ has the advantage of being islands.

I can't believe they're considering work visas. Business always gets its way I guess.

Their unemployment now at 3.2%. Pretty much just the virtually unemployable not working. They've already brought in 1000's of offshore workers in critical sectors. They either do that or economic growth will be heavily impacted.

Interestingly they have controlled Delta with some initial regional part lockdowns coupled with indoor mask wearing and strong contact tracing. Country is pretty much business as usual, but Delta cases are dropping rather than increasing even after the Christmas holiday gatherings. First Omicron case has just sneaked through the border quarantine though so I guess that could change things.

 

[Ug make hammer]

Their unemployment now at 3.2%. Pretty much just the virtually unemployable not working. They've already brought in 1000's of offshore workers in critical sectors. They either do that or economic growth will be heavily impacted.

I prefer my explanation: "business always gets its way". What should happen is people change careers from dead-end or low-pay jobs, attracted by better opportunities and higher pay. Obviously business would prefer to simply import the skills they need, but what's best for business is not always best for the country.

Interestingly they have controlled Delta with some initial regional part lockdowns coupled with indoor mask wearing and strong contact tracing. Country is pretty much business as usual, but Delta cases are dropping rather than increasing even after the Christmas holiday gatherings. First Omicron case has just sneaked through the border quarantine though so I guess that could change things.

Better Omicron than Delta I guess.

I resuscitated this thread because it appears that the lull in January was just that. Cases in the fourth wave are higher than ever, including 833 detected at the border in the last 3 weeks.