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A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; mortgage rate changes; migration; international travel; government consultants; Mycoplasma Bovis response; pay equity; rates lower; NZD firm

A review of things you need to know before you go home on Friday; mortgage rate changes; migration; international travel; government consultants; Mycoplasma Bovis response; pay equity; rates lower; NZD firm

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
Westpac has cut its 1, 2 and 3-year mortgage rates by up to 10 basis points, making similar changes to those already made by ASB and ANZ.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No rate changes here either.

MIGRATION
Annual net migration in the May 2018 year was 66,200, Stats NZ said today. Migrant arrivals were 130,200 and migrant departures were 64,000. In the May 2018 year, annual net migration continued a general downward trend from the peak of 72,400 in the July 2017 year. This was mainly driven by an increase in migrant departures. “Migrant departures are the highest they have been since May 2014,” population insights senior manager Brooke Theyers said. “They are now almost half the number of migrant arrivals.” Migrant departures to Asia increased by 33 percent in the May 2018 year to 12,400. The largest increases were to China and India.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
There were 9,100 visitors from India in the month of May 2018, up 2,100 from the same month last year, Stats NZ said today. India was the fourth-largest source of visitors to New Zealand for the month, behind Australia, China, and the United States. Overall, 222,100 visitors arrived in May 2018, up 12,900 on May 2017. The main source of arrivals was Australia, with 90,100 visitors. New Zealand- resident traveller departures increased substantially in May 2018 with 249,900 New Zealanders heading overseas for travel, up 16,800 from May 2017. The most popular destinations were Australia, United States, Fiji and the UK.

GOVERNMENT CONSULTANTS
The Government will reduce the reliance on expensive consultants and contractors, saving taxpayers many millions of dollars a year. The Government has made a decision to lift the ‘cap’ on core public servant numbers put in place by the previous Government. The cap was introduced at the height of the global financial crisis but it created perverse incentives and in the following years its arbitrary nature forced the previous Government to find creative ways to get around it. The total cost to taxpayers of contractors and consultants up to June last year (2017) was more than $550 million. This is an increase of $272 million – nearly double – on the amount spent in 2008/09, before the cap was introduced. The Government wants to bring this spending back down over time and invest any savings in permanent staff. In removing the cap, this government wants to see the public service re-build their in-house capability and invest in permanent and long term staff, rather than spend millions on temporary contractors.

MYCOPLASMA BOVIS RESPONSE
Minister for Biosecurity Damien O’Connor has unveiled a set of initiatives to support the Mycoplasma bovis response and improve farm biosecurity practices based on feedback from farmers and rural communities. Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is making a number of changes that can be implemented quickly, without legislation. MPI will start directly informing neighbouring farms of Infected Properties or high-risk properties. This will mean farmers can take appropriate steps to improve their on-farm biosecurity and reduce the risk to their own stock. MPI will also publish a list of the NAIT numbers of all affected animals on its website. This includes all animals associated with or traced from an Infected Property. MPI will also do more to ensure enforcement of the Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form. Farmers need to disclose the health history of their stock in the form and declare whether their farm is under any movement controls. It is a legal requirement that the ASD form must accompany a consignment of cattle when a stock sale takes place. Regulation and legislation changes are also being considered.

PAY EQUITY SETTLEMENT
Health Minister Dr David Clark is pleased to announce an estimated 5,000 mental health and addiction support workers will soon receive the same pay rates as care and support workers. In an agreement with unions and employers, the Government will extend the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act to include mental health and addiction support workers. Nearly half will get an increase of more than $3 per hour which means full-time workers will be paid approximately an extra $120 a week before tax. A further 20 percent of workers will get an increase of more than $5 per hour or around an extra $200 for a 40-hour week. The new pay scale reflects workers’ qualifications and experience. It will be back-dated to 1 July 2017. The $173.5 million settlement extension will be implemented over a five-year term and funded through an increase to Vote Health.

CREDIT CARD BALANCES
Credit card balances and spending data released by the RBNZ shows that credit card limits have increased by $47 mln in the month of May 2018, taking the annual increase to $388 mln or 1.7%. Credit card balances on the other hand have increased by 5.3% y-o-y to $7,175 mln. Of the average outstanding balance in the month of April 2018, 62.1% was interest bearing.

INTEREST RATE SET
The interest rate on the unsecured unsubordinated floating rate bonds with NZX ticker code ANBFA has been set at 3.03% per annum for the period from (and including) Friday, 22 June 2018 until (but excluding) Monday, 24 September 2018. This rate equals the 3 Month Bank Bill Rate on Friday, 22 June 2018 (the first day of the current Interest Period) plus the margin of 1.00% per annum.

BENCHMARK INTEREST RATES LOWER
Local swap rates are lower and flatter today, with the short end down -1 bp and the long end down -3 bps. The UST 10yr is now at 2.91%, down -4 bps. The Aussie Govt 10yr is at 2.66, down -3 bp, the China Govt 10yr is at 3.60% (down -3 bps), and the NZ Govt 10 yr is at 2.97%, down -2 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +1 bp to 2.03%.

BITCOIN LOWER
The bitcoin price is now at US$6,640 which is -2.1% lower than at this time yesterday.

NZD SLIGHTLY HIGHER
The NZD is slightly higher than this time yesterday at 68.8 USc. On the cross rate we are at 93.2 AUc and 59.3 euro cents. That has the TWI-5 still at 72.3.

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Source: CoinDesk

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