Monthly economic review: May 2014

The Monthly Economic Review is an overview of the New Zealand economy. It includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year. Recent data and events New Zealand’s unemployment rate remained at six percent in the March 2014 quarter, with a 0.9 percent rise in both employment and the labour force over the quarter. The labour force participation rate, at 69.3 percent, rose to its highest level since the survey commenced in the 1980s. There was an increase in both full-time and part-time employment, with full-time employment rising by 1.1 percent over the quarter and parttime employment rising by 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s unemployment rate was the 11th lowest in the OECD. Inflation was 0.3 percent in the March 2014 quarter, resulting in an annual inflation rate of 1.5 percent in the year to the March quarter. In the March quarter, an 11.3 percent rise in the excise duty on tobacco and tobacco products from 1 January 2014 was a significant driver to higher consumer prices. Costs associated with the purchase of newly built houses rose by 1.2 percent. Reserve Bank Governor, Graeme Wheeler, lifted the official cash rate by a further 25 basis points to three percent in April. This followed the commencement of a tightening in monetary policy in March, where the official cash rate was also lifted by 25 basis points. In the latest media release, the Governor commented that economic activity has gained considerable momentum, reducing spare capacity within the economy, and leading to inflationary pressures. This has been offset by a higher exchange rate, which has resulted in lower tradables inflation. The exchange rate on a trade weighted basis has reached a new peak since it was floated. During the month of April, the trade weighted index (TWI) averaged 80.2 index points. The Reserve Bank considers the exchange rate to be overvalued. The Governor commented that the Bank has the policy option of intervening in the currency if it thought the exchange rate was significantly out of line with economic fundamentals

Monthly economic review: December 2014

The Monthly Economic Review is an overview of the New Zealand economy. It includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year. Latest data and events International dairy prices continue to fall, with the latest Fonterra Global Dairy Trade auction results reporting a further 1.1 percent fall in prices (on a trade weighted index basis). Dairy prices are now 50 percent lower than their peak in early February. Fonterra has stated that in order to keep their forecast payout at $5.30 per kilogram of milk solids, the average price for whole milk powder needs to recover to around US$3,500 per tonne by next March. In the latest auction, the average whole milk powder price was US$2,229 per tonne. Annual net immigration continues to rise, reaching 47,684 in the year ended October 2014, an increase of 30,194 from a year earlier. Approximately half of the increase was due to a reduction in the number of permanent and long-term departures, and the other half was due to an increase in the number of permanent and long-term arrivals. The net number of people leaving to live in Australia fell by 18,182 during the year to 5,311, predominantly due to a reduction in the number of permanent and long term departures to Australia. Oil prices have fallen over recent months, resulting in lower petrol prices. The Brent Oil price at the time of writing was US$69.26 per barrel, down from US$115 per barrel in June. Despite the fall in oil prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided in November to keep production at current levels. The price of 91-unleaded petrol in New Zealand was$2.03 per litre in early December, compared with $2.12 in the September quarter. All 14 regions recorded a rise in economic activity in the September quarter according to the ANZ Regional Trends publication. Growth in the Otago region expanded by 2.2 percent in the quarter, while at the other end of the spectrum, economic activity in the Bay of Plenty region expanded by 0.4 percent in the quarter

Monthly economic review: November 2014

Overview: The Monthly Economic Review is an overview of the New Zealand economy. It includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year

Monthly economic review: June 2015

Overview: The Monthly Economic Review is an overview of the New Zealand economy. It includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year

Monthly economic review: September 2015

Latest data and events Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent on 10 September, returning the OCR to April 2014 levels. The Bank’s 90-day bank bill rate projections point towards a further cut in the OCR, with the ASB Bank expecting another rate cut in October. The BNZ thinks there is a 65 percent chance of a rate cut in October. The ANZ Bank believes that the Reserve Bank is not in a hurry to cut again, while Westpac Bank reckons an October cut is “a close call”. Regional economic activity rose by 0.3 percent in the June quarter according to ANZ Regional Trends, with economic activity increasing in the North Island but falling in the South Island. The Northland region experienced a rise in economic activity of 1.6 percent, while the Southland and Taranaki regions contracted by 1.6 percent over the quarter. New Zealand’s merchandise terms of trade rose unexpectedly in the June quarter, up 1.3 percent. Over the quarter, exported goods prices rose by 2.1 percent while imported goods prices rose by 0.7 percent. Dairy product prices rose by six percent, reflecting the higher prices experienced earlier in the year. A bank economist noted that trade data reflects auction price data after about a three month lag. &nbsp

Monthly economic review: August 2015

Includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year

Monthly economic review: July 2014

Overview: The Monthly Economic Review is an overview of the New Zealand economy. It includes the latest data on New Zealand’s economic growth, unemployment, inflation, merchandise trade and balance of payments figures, along with certain financial data (such as the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate). The unemployment rate, economic growth and central bank interest rates for several of our main OECD trading partners are also included. Each publication highlights a specific topic of interest. The Monthly Economic Review is produced eleven times per year

Students' attitudes towards the introduction of a Personal and Professional Development portfolio: potential barriers and facilitators

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Perceived barriers for treatment of chronic heart failure in general practice; are they affecting performance?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to determine to what extent barriers perceived by general practitioners (GPs) for prescribing angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients are related to underuse and underdosing of these drugs in actual practice. METHODS: Barriers were assessed with a semi-structured questionnaire. Prescribing data were extracted from GPs' computerised medical records for a random sample of their CHF patients. Relations between barriers and prescribing behaviour were assessed by means of Spearman rank correlation and multivariate regression modelling. RESULTS: GPs prescribed ACE-I to 45% of their patients and had previously initiated such treatment in an additional 3.5%, in an average standardised dose of 13.5 mg. They perceived a median of four barriers in prescribing ACE-I or optimising ACE-I dose. Many GPs found it difficult to change treatment initiated by a cardiologist. Furthermore, initiating ACE-I in patients already using a diuretic or stable on their current medication was perceived as barrier. Titrating the ACE-I dose was seen as difficult by more than half of the GPs. No significant relationships could be found between the barriers perceived and actual ACE-I prescribing. Regarding ACE-I dosing, the few GPs who did not agree that the ACE-I should be as high as possible prescribed higher ACE-I doses. CONCLUSION: Variation between GPs in prescribing ACE-I for CHF cannot be explained by differences in the barriers they perceive. Tailor-made interventions targeting only those doctors that perceive a specific barrier will therefore not be an efficient approach to improve quality of care

Uncoupling of sexual reproduction from homologous recombination in homozygous Oenothera species

Salient features of the first meiotic division are independent segregation of chromosomes and homologous recombination (HR). In non-sexually reproducing, homozygous species studied to date HR is absent. In this study, we constructed the first linkage maps of homozygous, bivalent-forming Oenothera species and provide evidence that HR was exclusively confined to the chromosome ends of all linkage groups in our population. Co-segregation of complementary DNA-based markers with the major group of AFLP markers indicates that HR has only a minor role in generating genetic diversity of this taxon despite its efficient adaptation capability. Uneven chromosome condensation during meiosis in Oenothera may account for restriction of HR. The use of plants with ancient chromosomal arm arrangement demonstrates that limitation of HR occurred before and independent from species hybridizations and reciprocal translocations of chromosome arms—a phenomenon, which is widespread in the genus. We propose that consecutive loss of HR favored the evolution of reciprocal translocations, beneficial superlinkage groups and ultimately permanent translocation heterozygosity