5 July 2006
Reserve Bank issues Statement of Intent
The Reserve Bank has released its Statement of Intent(SOI) for 2006-2009 (www.rbnz.govt.nz/news/2006/2649987.html).
Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said the SOI is the Bank's three-year forward-looking picture of Bank activities: "It
highlights the major pieces of work we will be doing this year, as well as all the business as usual."
The SOI recognises increasing demands on the Bank's policy outputs in a changing economic environment. Dr Bollard said
it was vital that the Bank's economic toolkit was adequate to the task of keeping up with the changing nature of our
economy.
"In this SOI, we have set strategic priorities for further developing our inflation forecasting capability, including
developing new models, and continuing to investigate how we can best maintain price stability while minimising the
variability in output, interest rates and the exchange rate."
"The Bank will be implementing policies on banking regulatory issues, including outsourcing, the Basel II capital
adequacy regime for banks, local incorporation, and bank-failure management. "We will also be contributing to a review
of the supervision of the non-bank financial sector," Dr Bollard said.
A major project will be issuing new-look 'silver' coins from 31 July, with smaller and lighter 10 cent, 20 cent, and 50
cent coins, and the withdrawal of the 5 cent coin. "Logistically, this will be the biggest currency change since
decimalisation in 1967 - a change that will deliver considerable savings to the New Zealand taxpayer."
Other priorities include a review of the structure of the Bank's balance sheet to ensure it best meets its statutory
requirements; and upgrades to several back-office systems to enhance the Bank's ability to operate in the current
demanding environment. There will be further investment to ensure operations can continue in the event of major
disasters.
ENDS