Welcome to the August 21 2008 editions of the BNZ Weekly Overview and Offshore Overview.
We haven't learnt very much new about the New Zealand economy over the past week. Retail spending has been confirmed as
very weak over the June quarter while there are widespread expectations that house prices will decline. But this appears
to be encouraging more people to think it is a good time to consider a property purchase.
Wholesale interest rates have hardly moved and market expectations remain for a string of interest rate cuts by the
Reserve Bank over coming months. The Kiwi dollar has climbed over the past week mainly on the back of profit-taking
after its relatively sharp fall from the middle of July.
ENDS