September 2004 Reserve Bank Bulletin released

6 October 2004

September 2004 Reserve Bank Bulletin released

The Reserve Bank today released the September 2004 issue of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin.

The September issue contains articles spanning most of the Reserve Bank's core functions. It also includes two speeches recently given by the Governor - one on the banking supervision framework and the other on the New Zealand property markets.

The first article is on the long-run effects of monetary policy on economic growth. It looks at how interest rates and inflation affect growth in a country's investment capital, labour supply, and technology. The evidence indicates that keeping inflation low and stable makes a positive contribution to long-run economic growth and that this is the most effective contribution that monetary policy can make to the economy's performance over time.

The second article summarises a joint project led by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to evaluate whether sharp swings in the average level of capacity utilisation in the New Zealand economy, as measured by the NZIER, may have been influenced by sampling changes used in the NZIER's calculations. It found that changes to the sampling framework used by the NZIER do not appear to have had a significant impact on the measure of capacity utilisation and that the swings in capacity utilisation are due to underlying economic developments, including productivity changes.

The third article discusses the Reserve Bank's views on bank corporate governance and summarises the issues the Bank is currently reviewing, with a view to assessing possible options for enhancing governance within banks. It notes the importance of sound corporate governance, with particular emphasis on the need for the boards of banks having ultimate responsibility for the stewardship of and risk management within their banks.

To read the Bulletin click on the following link

http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research/bulletin/2002_2006/sep2004.html

ENDS

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