The third stage of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was implemented in January 1999 against the specter of persistently high unemployment in many of the participating countries. While the high European unemployment has received considerable attention, this new IMF staff study analyzes...

The 2015 Article IV Consultation provides an overview of New Zealand's economic development and policies. Tailwinds have supported the economy's strong growth after the global financial crisis. However, the tailwinds have recently waned. Growth peaked at 3.5 percent year-over-year in the fourth...

This paper discusses prospects for potential growth, house prices, household debt, and financial stability risks, and tax policy reforms in New Zealand. Despite having world-class institutions and strong policy framework, income levels remain low relative to other Organisation for Economic...

At the request of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), and with the support of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department (APD), a monetary and financial statistics (MFS) technical assistance (TA) mission visited Wellington, New Zealand during October 1-12, 2018.1 The mission's main objectives...

This Selected Issues paper discusses interactions between external risks and the New Zealand economy. The current set of external risks has the potential to be extremely damaging to New Zealand, but two factors would likely mitigate the economic impact. First, the flexible exchange rate regime...

This 2019 Article IV Consultation with New Zealand discusses that economic growth picked up in early 2019 after slowing in the second half of 2018. The pickup mostly reflected a rebound in private business investment growth. Residential investment also strengthened, notwithstanding cooling...

This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights New Zealand's economic expansion, which since early 2011 gained further broad-based momentum in 2016. GDP growth accelerated to 4 percent, and the output gap has roughly closed. Reconstruction spending after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake was an...

This paper presents an assessment of the stability of the financial system in New Zealand. Imbalances in the housing market, banks' concentrated exposures to the dairy sector, and their high reliance on wholesale offshore funding are the key macro-financial vulnerabilities. The banking sector...

This paper presents an assessment of Observance of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP) in New Zealand. The supervisory approach of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) reflects the characteristics of the local banking industry and the authorities' goal to limit...