Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fonterra delivered a strong first half result, beating market expectations, while lifting its full year earnings outlook and forecast farmgate milk price.

The co-operative said a “favourable product mix and resilient global demand for high value dairy Ingredients and Foodservice products” enabled Fonterra to deliver and better than expected result.

The dairy co-operative’s net profit for the six months ended January rose 3 percent, with group revenue up 9 percent.

Key numbers for the six months ended January compared with a year ago:

• Net profit $750m vs $729m
• Revenue $1.231b vs $1.107b
• Earnings per share 45 cents vs 44cps
• Normalised earnings per share 51 cps vs 47cps
• Return on capital 11.2% vs 10.4%
• Interim dividend 24cps vs 22cps
• Special Mainland dividend 16cps – Capital return of $2 a share – expected to be paid 14 April

Current forecast vs previous forecast

• FY26 forecast earnings guidance from continuing operations between 50 – 65cps vs 45 -65 cps
• Current season forecast Farmgate Milk Price midpoint $9.70 per kgMS vs 9.50 per kgMS.
• Reaffirms target to close Mainland underlying earnings gap of $300m – FY28 to match FY25

Outgoing chief executive Miles Hurrell said the changes to the forecast Farmgate Milk Price and earnings reflected improvement in global commodity prices and the co-op’s strong underlying

margins and cost control.

However, he said significant volatility remained, particularly as the conflict in the Middle East continued.

“The underlying performance of Fonterra’s continuing business is stable, allowing the Co-op to return all earnings associated with the Mainland Group business and lift our forecasts for the remainder of the year ahead,” Hurrell said.

“Demand for our products is strong, and we’re focused on our plan to maximise both the Farmgate Milk Price and earnings.”

The co-op also delivered a return on capital of 11.2 percent, in line with its target range.

“The first half of the year has been shaped by strong milk flows, with the Co-op collecting record milk volumes in the South Island so far this season,” Hurrell said, though several adverse weather events had put pressure on operations.

“Our performance shows that we are growing the high-value parts of our business through optimal allocation of milk solids across our product mix, which is driving a strong return on capital for shareholders and unit holders.”

Managing geopolitical volatility

Hurrell said war in the Middle East was having an impact on its supply chain through the region, with potential to increase Fonterra’s inventory levels and costs over the course of the second half of the year.

There was also the potential for further volatility in global commodity prices, he said.

“The conflict is a complex and dynamic situation that is changing daily, but we are confident that we’re on the right track to get product to customers.”

He said Fonterra’s business was designed to manage volatility.

“Our scale and strong relationships with customers and logistics provider Kotahi will help us to navigate through these challenges better than most.

“With this in mind, we remain focused on delivering on our strategic targets.”

Where the growth is coming from

The company said it was focused on deepending its position as a world-leading provider of dairy ingredients.

“In line with the co-op’s strategy, we have continued to focus on optimising our product mix by allocating milk solids effectively to the highest accessible demand.

“With milk collection tracking at 2.3 percent growth year-on-year, we have leveraged flexibility in our asset network and increased the manufacture of our highest returning product portfolios, such as cheese and proteins,” it said in its interim report.

Fonterra said it was also expanding its Foodservice business in and beyond China to grow earnings.

“Diversifying our cream portfolio and expanding our customer base remains a key focus. Anchor Easy Bakery Cream continues to perform strongly in China, valued for its functionality, quality and accessible price point.

“The cream has now launched in Indonesia and Thailand, with other markets across Southeast Asia to follow.”

In addition the company said it was investing more in operations.

“During the half, we continued to invest in our assets to drive growth in our Foodservice and Ingredients businesses, and in projects intended to improve energy security, operational resilience, and reduce the Co-op’s emissions.”

It was also investing more in science and technology.

“In line with our strategy, the co-op has continued to advance its innovation pipeline across products, processes, data and new business models.

“Our team and dedicated research and development centre remains focused on core dairy and advanced nutrition, manufacturing performance and capability, and strengthening in-market application capability to support long-term growth, efficiency and resilience.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two bottles of sparkling water. One, a Pam’s product has two Health Stars. The other, a Schweppes brand, has 4.5.

It prompted one shopper to email RNZ and ask: What is going on?

Shouldn’t water with the same ingredients have the same rating? And why isn’t water five stars?

Foodstuffs said in this instance, it was a labelling problem.

“The rules changed in 2020 and plain water is now automatically given a five-star rating, while unsweetened sparkling water gets 4.5,” a spokesperson said.

“We can see why this looks confusing at first glance. Health Star Ratings follow a standard approach across New Zealand and Australia. Most products are calculated, but some, like plain water and unsweetened flavoured water, including sparkling, are automatically given high ratings.

“In this case, the rating on our Pam’s sparkling water is out of date following a 2020 update to the rating system. The product hasn’t changed, but the label hasn’t caught up.

“That’s on us, and we’re fixing it, so customers have clear and consistent information.”

But experts say the water situation highlights some of the confusion that still persists about the scheme.

Health Star ratings are set using a standard system that considers the balance of energy, saturated fat, sugar and sodium, offset against protein and fibre. Points are also awarded for fruit, vegetable, nut and legume content.

Consumer NZ senior research writer Belinda Castles said Foodstuffs was quite late in updating its water rating.

But she said, generally, products were displaying the star rating that the calculator suggested they should.

She said the main issue with the scheme was that it was voluntary. “Only 36 percent of the products that it’s intended for have the rating so that’s not particularly helpful.

“Consumers need to be able to look at the food supply as a whole because the consensus is the Health Star rating is useful. We don’t have time to be looking at all the nutrition information panels on the back.”

She said there was concern that some companies were cherry picking their healthier products to have the star.

“They’re going ‘ok we’ve got this five-star product we’ll put the rating on our fours and fives but we’ll leave it off the ones and twos’.”

She said people should also only use it to compare similar products. “The calculator has slightly different calculations depending on what the product is. Like if it it’s a cooking oil, for example versus a dairy product versus a cereal… use it to pick a healthier cereal, don’t use it to pick a cooking oil versus a cereal.”

She said the intended target was for 70 percent of products to have a rating at the end of last year and it was only halfway there.

But Rob Hamlin, from the University of Otago marketing department, said the regime was ineffective when it came to driving consumer choice.

“This disconnect between our legislative powerhouses with regards to nutritional labels and reality has led to some very unfortunate outcomes.

“The Heart Foundation tick is what’s known as a binary cue… It was an image that communicated by being there or not being there… we do know the Heart Foundation tick was effective because it was much more similar to the pictorial nominal cues that the food industry used to effectively communicate with consumers.”

The Heart Foundation tick was discontinued in 2016.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fonterra’s first half result is expected to deliver to expectations, but with a murky outlook as the war in Iran threatens global supply chains, along with rising energy and other costs.

Generate KiwiSaver investment specialist Greg Smith said strong demand for dairy products as well as the low value of the New Zealand dollar would help Fonterra through the ongoing volatility, though there could be some disruption to its cheese exports to places such as the United Arab Emirates, as an example.

“So there are some impacts there, and product that potentially will need to be re-routed,” Smith said.

The market consensus for the six months ended January was for revenue in the order of $11 billion, with an underlying profit of $976 million and a normalised net profit of $445m.

The first half dividend was expected to be about 21 cents per share, in addition to a special Mainland dividend in a range of 14-to-18 cps, following the completion of the sale of Fonterra’s Mainland Group of global consumer and associated business to Lactalis for $4.22b.

Where is the growth coming from?

The company was forecasting growth in its ingredients and food services business to fill any gap left by the sale of the consumer business by the year ending July 2028.

“Unlike other company results, I think the focus this time in particular (will be) less on the numbers… and I think that’s principally reflecting the strategic reset that’s underway,” Forsyth Barr senior equities analyst Matt Montgomerie said.

Two key focuses will be on where Fonterra’s debt levels, following the divestment and how the ingredients and food services businesses were planning to fill the earnings gap left by the sale of the consumer businesses.

Forecasts

• FY26 forecast earnings guidance from continuing operations at between 45 and 65 cents per share.
• Current season forecast Farmgate Milk Price midpoint $9.50 per kgMS – range of $9.20-$9.80 per kgMS.
• Target to close Mainland underlying earnings gap of $300m – FY28 to match FY25.

“Delivery and execution and messaging around that target is the key for the next few years,” Montgomerie said.

Who will lead Fonterra?

Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell resigned this month following a 25-year career with Fonterra, including eight years as chief executive after the resignation of the late Theo Spierings in 2019, who failed to connect with farmer-shareholders and left the company in a poor financial position, with high debt levels to deal with.

Montgomerie said farmers will want to see someone who operates in a similar mode to Hurrell, who was able to relate to farmers on a day-to-day business and deliver on the turnaround strategy.

“The farmers are looking for consistency and continuity. Obviously, change can bring about new perspectives, but I would be surprised if there are any notable changes in strategic direction with the new CEO,” he said.

“It feels like there’s a strong desire to provide sort of an opportunity for someone internally to continue the strategic direction of the business. But I think the key thing is that reliability and trust from a farmer point of view, but then also Fonterra’s customers all around the world.”

Smith said the next chief executive will have “big gum boots to fill”.

“I’m sure there’ll be a swathe of high quality internal candidates put forward but also no doubt there’ll be a global benchmark process,” he said.

“I don’t really think there’ll be a significant change in strategy, given all the effort that has gone into refocusing and simplifying the business.”

The bigger picture?

Smith said the sale of the Mainland business will give the New Zealand economy a much needed boost.

“The Mainland sale is going to inject potentially around $3 billion, if not more into the Kiwi economy,” Smith said.

“So that’s a positive story for the second half of the year, economically.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Responsible investment platform Mindful Money warns that KiwiSaver investors are increasingly exposed to human rights abuses – but one KiwiSaver manager says the list of companies to avoid is becoming too long to be realistic.

Over the past six months, Mindful Money said investments in companies with exposure to human rights abuses rose 43 percent, reaching more than $3.5 billion. This has been fuelled by both an increase in the number of companies identified as violating human rights and increased investment in those companies.

It said public surveys consistently showed that avoiding human rights abuses was the No.1 concern for KiwiSaver members.

“These findings highlight a growing gap between what New Zealanders want from their investments in terms of human rights and where their money is actually going,” said Mindful Money founder Barry Coates.

In recent years, attention has increasingly focused on the activities of major technology companies, particularly around surveillance, social media harms and their use in conflict situations, he said. Companies identified as raising human rights concerns included Meta, Tesla, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Palantir Technologies.

“KiwiSaver providers need stronger policies to screen out companies linked to serious human rights harms,” Coates said. “New Zealanders deserve confidence that their retirement savings are not contributing to exploitation or conflict.”

Concerns have also grown over investments in companies linked to the conflict in Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine. KiwiSaver investments in companies providing weapons, surveillance technology or other support linked to these conflicts increased 14 percent between March and September 2025, reaching $856 million.

Companies receiving increased investment during this period included IBM, Booking Holdings, Palantir Technologies, Motorola Solutions and Caterpillar, but Koura founder Rupert Carlyon said the bar was too high.

“We look at a company like Caterpillar, which is on their list of human rights issues, because they supply machinery into Israel.

“It’s also a company that does a huge amount of good in other parts of the world – it’s extremely hard to measure.”

He said clients were most concerned about returns and fees.

“My very strong view is actually, if you really want to make a difference, then you’re going to make much more of an impact, if you don’t support them as a customer than as an investor.

“Airbnb… you’re going to stop investing in Airbnb, because you think there are human rights issues? Does that mean that, you know what, we’re never going to use Airbnb ever again?”

Pathfinder Asset Management founder John Berry said his KiwiSaver funds avoided those companies.

“Based on the approach taken by Mindful Money, they are taking a values-based approach to human rights and other issues, and I think it’s entirely appropriate,” he said. “They disclose their methodology and the approach they’re taking, and they give the managers the opportunity to respond.

“I think that’s a really well-developed and well-thought-out approach.

“I think it’s good that there’s a range of options for, you know, some fund managers may focus primarily on just making money. Other fund managers, like Pathfinder, focus on putting a values-based lens, really strong values-based lens over our investing.”

He said individuals and fund managers should make their own decisions about what they were comfortable with.

“I think the starting point with thinking about human rights, and thinking about it from a fund-manager perspective and an investor perspective, is to think about what is your mission with investing.

“There are two sides to it. One is you can consider human rights from a values-based perspective, that you care for people, planet, animals and you want to sleep at night with your investments.

“The other side is you believe that companies that comply with human rights will deliver better long-term returns, because they will be trusted, they’re good corporate citizens and they will have stronger reputations, so they’ll be financially better.

“I actually believe both those things are true.”

Coates said avoiding problematic companies would likely be more effective than trying to change them.

“These are major global corporations and New Zealand investors have only a small share of their capital,” Coates said. “It is unlikely that fund managers sending letters or voting a few shares will change their practices.

“If companies are linked to human rights violations, fund providers should respect the wishes of their clients and avoid investing in them.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A group of North Auckland oyster farmers are calling for more transparency on how Watercare came to its final calculation on compensation over a sewage spill into the Mahurangi River last year, that contaminated tens of thousands of oysters during the businesses’ peak season.

Wastewater poured into the Mahurangi River for over 17 hours, after a power surge tripped up the pumps at Watercare’s Warkworth Street wastewater plant in late October.

Reviews found that a faulty surge protection component at the plant meant the pumps could not restart, and a critical overflow alarm that was not working had delayed the discovery of the overflow.

Watercare estimated that half of the 1200 cubic metres of overflow went into the Mahurangi River, while the remaining was contained to the plant.

It announced on Thursday its last tranche of compensation payment – $750,000 – for Mahurangi oyster famers and the wider aquaculture industry, which came on top of the $2 million already paid to eight affected oyster farms.

It said part of the $750,000 was for a ninth oyster farmer who made a subsequent claim, and part of it would go towards Aquaculture New Zealand (AQNZ) for it to distribute to all impacted oyster farmers.

AQNZ, representing the affected farmers, said the “full and final settlement” did not cover lost income, cancelled sales, reputational harm and ongoing disruption to production.

An AQNZ spokesperson said the organisation was offered half a million in the final round of compensation, but had not accepted the money yet, as it felt Watercare had not made it clear how that money should be used.

Its CEO Teena Hale-Pennington said in a statement that farmers needed to see how Watercare assessed the losses and reached those final figures.

“At this stage, neither AQNZ nor individual farmers have received the independent assessment findings for their farms, nor information outlining the assumptions used in Watercare’s assessment.

“Without access to this material, farmers are unable to fully understand how assessments were undertaken or how conclusions were reached,” she said.

Meanwhile, Watercare maintained that its processes were robust.

“We commissioned an independent loss assessment to understand the financial impact of the October event on oyster farmers, resulting in the farms being shut down by MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) during a critical part of their harvesting season.

“This process has informed Watercare’s approach to resolving the claims,” said its chief operating officer Mark Bourne, who added that the total compensation covered the losses attributed to the event.

Hale-Pennington said it was frustrating that Watercare’s decision had been described as final, without the agreement of those most affected.

Tim Aitken, whose family business – Mahurangi Oysters – lost a large portion of its 80,000 dozen of oysters following the event, said they had been treated “like muppets” by Watercare.

“They haven’t entered into the conversation in a transparent way, they’ve treated us quite badly, I believe,” he said.

Aitken said he and other oyster farmers have handed Watercare five years’ worth of income and expenditure, in the hope of entering into a transparent negotiation.

Aitken said none of Watercare’s assessors had chatted with him in person about how they came to those compensation figures.

He said the $200,000 he received in compensation was just enough to cover staff wages.

Aitken said the reputational damage and ongoing impacts such as the loss of clients, were not being factored into the compensation.

“We sell weekly to chefs, and we sell fresh oysters, so everytime we get closed we lose a chef, we lose a restaurant because we can’t guarantee supply.

“Our business right now is hanging on, but only just,” he said.

Aitken said these days, they were struggling to sell oysters due to the lost trust by their clients.

“People now talk to us and say ‘we don’t wanna buy your oysters, they’re the ones that are in the shit harbour’.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Slipper Island, an exclusive chunk of land off the Coromandel Coast is up for grabs.

It is estimated that it could sell for more than $10 million.

It is one of fewer than two dozen private islands in Aotearoa.

Slipper Island is a short boat ride from Pauanui, with white sand beaches and resort style accommodation.

Diana Cussen is selling the property through Barfoot and Thompson and also lives on the island.

She told Checkpoint the island offers clear waters, along with white and pink sand beaches.

“It’s absolutely magical, just imagine just coming up in your boat… you can dive in and it just makes you feel fabulous.”

The island is being sold alongside a number of different accommodation options, all set up for holiday accommodation.

The sale will include an old style lodge, a two bedroom chalet, two one bedroom chalets, along with two safari style tents.

“All you need is your food and your favourite bikini and a towel and you’re away.”

With such a high price, the buyer pool may be small, but Cussen expects it will be a local that ends up calling Slipper Island their own.

“Kiwis are pretty good at making waves in the world and all the technology and their businesses. So more than likely, you know, it’s going to be a local, local Kiwi and there is a bit of money around in New Zealand.”

“But it’s going to come down to who would love to be the next custodian of Slipper Island.”

The government’s introduction of the ‘golden visa’ scheme means overseas investors could also easily buy the property.

The scheme offers a fast tracked residency process to investors willing to spend at least $5 million.

“There are checkpoints in place there to make sure that if there was an overseas buyer… what would they contribute to the community? How they would look after the island?”

There are 10 properties on the island, including the ones for sale now.

Across the island’s 217 hectares, seven hectares are shared across nine lots, which feature five houses and five semi-permanent residents.

Getting to the island only takes around 20 minutes by boat from Tairua or Pauanui, and if the buyer has a little more change in their pocket, they can take an half an hour plane ride from Auckland, Hamilton or Tauranga.

Slipper Island is being sold by tender, which will close on 15 April.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Forensic accountants are continuing to find “areas of concern” as they look into the accounts of the failed Du Val Group.

Statutory managers have released their latest six-month report into the group of about 70 entities that collapsed in 2024 owing more than $300 million to hundreds of people.

Its founders Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke have had their personal assets and passports frozen.

In the latest report, the statutory managers said they could not give many details about their latest discoveries because they did not want to prejudice any formal action that may come later.

The Financial Markets Authority was also investigating the group and had the power to pursue charges if warranted.

Today’s report showed the statutory managers still had many unanswered questions – the Clarkes had refused to be interviewed and had gone to the Court of Appeal seeking the right to refuse.

The managers said extensive forensic accounting analysis needed to continue partly because of the group’s “materially incomplete” accounting records.

“While investigations have progressed and further related issues have been identified for analysis, to ensure that any potential subsequent formal action is not prejudiced, no further information is currently able to be disclosed regarding our ongoing investigations into these areas of concern,” they said.

Broad concerns identified in earlier reports remained, including about GST transactions and the lack of clarity about goods paid for by the company but possessed by the Clarkes.

Since the last report, the debt owed by the group had fallen from $268 million to $226 million.

That was partly because some of its property developments had been sold including the Earlsworth, Sunnyvale and Edmonton residential projects.

None has been sold for a high enough price to cover the debt owing on them.

Investors in Du Vals Build to Rent Fund were likely to receive about 41 cents in the dollar on their investment after the sale of the fund’s residential properties in May last year, the report said.

Work was underway to sell to more developments, it said.

The report also gave an update on a British legal case against some Du Val entities that had wound up in New Zealand’s courts.

The British courts ordered Du Val to pay $1.35m (NZD) in damages and $164,205 (NZD) in costs.

The person awarded the costs was seeking to have the judgement recognised in New Zealand but the statutory managers opposed that in the High Court, the report said.

The judgement was pending.

The statutory managers are John Fisk, Stephen White and Lara Bennett.

They had previously been working under the PWC banner but the company sold its business restructuring arm to the global firm Teneo earlier this year.

The Authority said today it could not provide any update on where its investigation was at for “legal and confidentiality” reasons.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Foodstuff’s petrol stations say they will continue to offer discounts despite stores running dry and operating day to day.

Petrol stations across the country are seeing a surge of drivers filling up as fuel prices rise amid fears over the Iran war and potential shortages.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said as of Sunday, New Zealand has 41.3 days worth of petrol 47 days of diesel and 49 days of Jet Fuel but they are preparing for the ‘worst case scenario’ from a prolonged conflict.

On Friday morning, some Pak ‘n’ Save and New World petrol stores had closed their stations because they were empty and awaiting delivery.

New World Levin had been waiting for more than two days. Consequently, the Gull station across the road was very busy.

Pioneer New World in Palmerston North and Pak’ N’ Save Hawera were also without supplies on Friday morning.

A Foodstuff’s spokesperson said fuel was available across New World and PAK’n SAVE sites, and there was plenty of supply.

“The increased demand has meant some sites have temporarily run out ahead of scheduled deliveries.”

Foodstuff’s said there were no changes to it’s fuel discount program at this time.

“We continue to closely monitor demand and work proactively with our suppliers to maintain continuity at all sites. “

Pak ‘N’ Save Kapiti said it had been without stock but was refilled overnight.

“We’re still operating on a day-to-day basis as demand remains high and our supplier is finding it challenging to keep up.”

Overnight, petrol price app Gaspy updated to allow it to remove stores/stations from the site when they have run out of fuel.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Genesis Energy says its $300 million rights issue has been strongly supported, raising $242.7 million from eligible shareholders – including the Crown, which will maintain its 51 percent stake.

The offer opened on 23 February, giving investors one new share for every 7.9 held, and about 81 percent of eligible shareholders took up the offer.

Genesis said shareholders who exercised all their rights also applied for an extra $48.1 million in additional shares, which will be considered in Friday’s shortfall bookbuild by its underwriter, local investment bank Jarden.

Chief executive Malcolm Johns said the company was delighted with the response from its shareholders, including the Crown.

“The success of the equity raise is a strong endorsement of the Gen35 strategy from shareholders,” he said.

To complete the shortfall bookbuild, Genesis has asked the NZX and ASX to halt trading in its ordinary shares and subordinated bonds from the start of trading on Friday.

The halt will be lifted once the bookbuild results are announced, or when markets open on 24 March, whichever comes first.

The company said the halt was needed to ensure the bookbuild could be conducted fairly, without some investors having information before others.

Shareholders who did not take up their rights – along with those ineligible to participate – may receive a pro‑rata payment if the bookbuild price ends up higher than the rights‑issue price of $2.05, although this is not guaranteed.

Settlement of the new shares is expected on 24 March for ASX investors and 25 March for NZX holders, with trading beginning on 25 March.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Reserve Bank to increase media events after cash rate decisions
• Will have online news conference after cash rate reviews, starting 8 April
• Previously cash rate reviews only had written statement
• Governor Anna Breman to speak about Middle East impact on economy next week

Reserve Bank governor Anna Breman has moved to deliver on her pledge to improve the central bank’s communication and transparency.

She is due to speak to business leaders next week on the RBNZ’s February monetary statement and the country’s payments system, but will now directly comment on the conflict in the Middle East.

“Due to the wider economic impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, this speech will now focus on the potential impacts of this evolving situation on the New Zealand economy,” the RBNZ said in a statement.

The speech will be released ahead of delivery and Breman will do a news conference and briefing for economists.

In the past, the RBNZ has entered a monetary “cone of silence” in the run-up to a meeting and decision about the official cash rate (OCR).

The next decision is due on 8 April and would normally only be a short statement and a summary of the meeting of the monetary policy committee.

But the April decision will be followed by an online news conference, which will now become standard practice.

In the past the RBNZ has only given media conferences after a quarterly monetary policy statement, along with full economic forecasts and interest rate track.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand