Economy of New Zealand

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/ New Zealand has a market economy that depends greatly on international trade, mainly with Australia, the European Union, the United States, China, South Korea and Japan. It has only small manufacturing and high-tech sectors, being strongly focused on tourism and primary industries such as agriculture. DELL Precision M6400 CPU Fan Free-market reforms over recent decades have removed many barriers to foreign investment, and the World Bank in 2005 praised New Zealand as being the most business-friendly country in the world, before Singapore. Traditionally, New Zealand's economy was built on a narrow range of primary products, such as wool, meat and dairy products. As an example, from approximately 1920 to the late 1930s, Compaq Presario CQ60-615DX CPU Fan the dairy export quota was usually around 35% of the total exports, and in some years made up almost 45% of all New Zealand's exports.^[15] Due to the high demand for these primary products – such as the New Zealand wool boom of 1951 – New Zealand enjoyed a high standard of living. However, commodity prices for these exports declined, and New Zealand lost its preferential trading positionwith the United Kingdom in 1973, HP Pavilion dv2660se CPU Fan due to the latter joining the European Economic Community. Partly as a result, from 1970 to 1990, the relative New Zealand GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power declined from about 115% of the OECD average to 80%.^[16] New Zealand's economy has been based on a foundation of exports from its very efficient agricultural system. Leading agricultural exports include meat, dairy products, forest products, fruit and vegetables, fish, and wool. Toshiba Satellite L500-1XC CPU Fan New Zealand was a direct beneficiary of many of the reforms achieved under the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, with agriculture in general and the dairy sector in particular enjoying many new trade opportunities in the long term. The country has substantial hydroelectric power and sizeable reserves of natural gas, much of which is exploited due primarily to major Keynesian import substitution-oriented industrial projects (See Think Big). DELL GM0503PEB1-8 (L2.M) CPU Fan Leading manufacturing sectors are food processing, metal fabrication, and wood and paper products. Some manufacturing industries, many of which had only been established in a climate of import substitution with high tariffs and subsidies, such as car assembly, have completely disappeared, and manufacturing's importance in the economy is in a general decline. HP Pavilion dv7-1098eo CPU Fan Since 1984, the New Zealand government has undertaken major economic restructuring (known first as Rogernomics and then Ruthanasia), moving an agrarian economy dependent on concessionary British market access toward a more industrialised, free-market economy that can compete globally. This growth has boosted real incomes, broadened and deepened the technological capabilities of the industrial sector, and contained inflationary pressures. Toshiba Satellite A205-S5804 CPU Fan Inflation remains among the lowest in the industrial world. Per-capita GDP has been moving up towards the levels of the big West European economies since the trough in 1990, but the gap remains significant. New Zealand's heavy dependence on trade leaves its growth prospects vulnerable to economic performance in Asia, Europe, and the United States. HP Pavilion dv7-1240us CPU Fan Between 1984 and 1999, a number of measures of New Zealand's economic and social capital showed a steady decline: the youth suicide rate grew sharply into one of the highest in the developed world;^[17] the number of food banks increased dramatically;^[18] marked increases in violent and other crime were observed;^[19] the number of New Zealanders estimated to be living in poverty grew by at least 35% between 1989 and 1992;^[20 DELL yy529 CPU Fan ^] and health care was especially hard-hit, leading to a significant deterioration in health standards among working and middle-class people.Between 1985 and 1992, New Zealand's economy grew by 4.7% during the same period in which the average OECD nation grew by 28.2%.^[22] From 1984 to 1993 inflation averaged 9% per year, New Zealand's credit rating dropped twice, and foreign debt quadrupled.^[20] Toshiba Qosmio G40-10E CPU Fan Between 1986 and 1993, the unemployment rate rose from 3.6% to 11%. The New Zealand economy has recently been perceived as successful. However, the generally positive outlook includes some challenges. New Zealand income levels, which used to be above much of Western Europe prior to the deep crisis of the 1970s, have never recovered in relative terms. SONY Vaio VGN-CR407E CPU Fan For instance, the New Zealand nominal GDP per capita is about 80% that of the United States. Income inequality has increased greatly, implying that significant portions of the population have quite modest incomes. Further, New Zealand has a very large current account deficit of 8–9% of GDP. Despite this, its public debt stands at 33.7% (2011 est.)^[24] of the total GDP, which is small compared to many developed nations. HP Pavilion dv6-1101au CPU Fan However, between 1984 and 2006, net foreign debt increased 11-fold, to NZ$182 billion, NZ$45,000 for each person.The combination of a modest public debt and a large net foreign debt reflects that most of the net foreign debt is held by the private sector. At 31 June 2012, gross foreign debt was NZ$256.4 billion, or 125.3% of GDP.^[25] At 31 March 2012, net foreign debt was NZ$141.65 billion or 104.4% of GDP.^[26] HP Pavilion dv7-3190ev CPU Fan New Zealand's persistent current-account deficits have two main causes. The first is that earnings from agricultural exports and tourism have failed to cover the imports of advanced manufactured goods and other imports (such as imported fuels) required to sustain the New Zealand economy. Secondly, there has been an investment income imbalance or net outflow for debt-servicing of external loans. HP Pavilion dv7-1157cl CPU Fan The proportion of the current account deficit that is attributable to the investment income imbalance (a net outflow to the Australian-owned banking sector) grew from one third in 1997 to roughly 70% in 2008. Historically, New Zealand had a highly protected, regulated and subsidised economy. This stemmed at least partly from trends started in the first half of the 20th century, when the Liberal Government and later the First Labour Government introduced social security systems with, HP COMPAQ NX9420 CPU Fan for the time, very wide-ranging scope (from state pensions to unemployment benefits and free education and health care), while also regulating industry, mandating trade unionism and industrial arbitration. Imports were also heavily regulated. While called "welfare statism" by some,^[who?] it was accepted that until at least the 1950s both main parties (Labour and National) generally supported this trend, HP Mini 110-1110ET CPU Fan even though critics pointed to negative effects on the general economy and argued that increasing emigration could be blamed to a large degree on these policies.^[28] By the 1960s, the New Zealand economy's terms of trade began to decline. This was largely due to the decline in export receipts from the United Kingdom, which in 1955 took 65.3 percent of New Zealand's exports. HP Pavilion dv7-1157cl CPU Fan By the year ended June 1973, during which Britain formally entered the European Economic Community, this had fallen to 26.8 percent. By the year ended June 1990 its share had fallen to 7.2 percent and in the year ended June 2000 its share was 6.2 percent.^[29] To a substantial degree, the economic restrictions remained in place or were even sometimes extended in the early second half of the 20th century. HP Pavilion dv6-3163eo CPU Fan However, reforms in the 1980s and early 1990s were then to turn this situation into its opposite. Between 1984 and 1995, successive New Zealand governments enacted policies of economic deregulation informed by microeconomics. The policies aimed to liberalise the economy and were notable for their very comprehensive coverage and innovations. Specific polices included: HP Pavilion dv9740us CPU Fan floating the exchange rate; establishing an independent reserve bank; performance contracts for senior civil servants; public sector finance reform based on accrual accounting; tax neutrality; subsidy-free agriculture; and industry-neutral competition regulation. Economic growth was resumed in 1991. New Zealand was changed from a somewhat closed and centrally controlled economy to one of the most open economies in the OECD.^[ ACER Aspire 4743 CPU Fan Since 1984, government subsidies including agricultural subsides were eliminated; import regulations were liberalised; the exchange rate was floated; and controls on interest rates, wages, and prices were removed; and marginal rates of taxation were reduced. Tight monetary policy and major efforts to reduce thegovernment budget deficit brought the inflation rate down from an annual rate of more than 18% in 1987. HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPU Fan The deregulation of government-owned enterprises in the 1980s and 1990s reduced government's role in the economy and permitted the retirement of some public debt.Deregulation created a very business-friendly regulatory framework. A 2008 study and survey ranked it 99.9% in "Business freedom", and 80% overall in "Economic freedom", noting amongst other things that it only takes 12 days to establish a business in New Zealand on average, compared with a worldwide average of 43 days. Toshiba Satellite L675-S7018 CPU Fan Other indicators measured were property rights, labour market conditions, government controls and corruption, the last being considered "next to non-existent" in the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal study.^[31] According to the Heritage Foundation, New Zealand has the strongest private property rights in the world, scoring 95 on a scale of 100. ASUS F80Q CPU Fan In its 'Doing Business 2008' survey, the World Bank (which in that year rated New Zealand as the second-most business-friendly country worldwide), ranked New Zealand 13th out of 178 in the business-friendliness of its hiring laws.^[32] The 1990s liberalisations also have been blamed for a number of significant negative effects. ACER TravelMate 4200 CPU Fan One of them was the leaky homes crisis, where the liberalisation of building standards (in the expectation that market forces would assure quality) led to many thousands of severely deficient buildings (mostly residential homes and apartments) being constructed over a period of a decade. The costs of fixing the damage has been estimated at over NZ$11 billion. HP 434678-001 CPU Fan Economic growth, which had slowed in 1997 and 1998 due to the negative effects of the Asian financial crisis and two successive years of drought, rebounded in 1999. A low New Zealand dollar, favourable weather, and high commodity prices boosted exports, and the economy is estimated to have grown by 2.5% in 2000. Growth resumed at a higher level from 2001 onwards due primarily to the lower value of the New Zealand dollar, which made exports more competitive. HP G70-120EA CPU Fan The return of substantial economic growth led the unemployment rate to drop from 7.8% in 1999 to 3.4% in late 2005, the lowest rate in nearly 20 years. Although New Zealand enjoyed low unemployment rates in the years immediately prior to the financial crisis beginning in 2007, subsequent unemployment rose. Toshiba Satellite A300-034 CPU Fan New Zealand's large current account deficit, which stood at more than 6.5% of GDP in 2000, has been a constant source of concern for New Zealand policymakers and hit 9% as of March 2006. The rebound in the export sector is expected to help narrow the deficit to lower levels, especially due to decreases in the exchange rate of the New Zealand dollar during 2008. HP 606609-001 CPU Fan New Zealand's economy has been helped by strong economic relations with Australia. Australia and New Zealand are partners in "Closer Economic Relations" (CER), which allows for free trade in goods and most services. Since 1990, CER has created a single market of more than 25 million people, and this has provided new opportunities for New Zealand exporters. Compaq Presario CQ60-301sl CPU Fan Australia is now the destination of 19% of New Zealand's exports, compared to 14% in 1983. Both sides have also agreed to consider extending CER to product standardisation and taxation policy. New Zealand initiated a free trade agreement with Singapore in September 2000 which was extended in 2005 to include Chile and Brunei and is now known as the P4 agreement.TOSHIBA Satellite L300 CPU Fan New Zealand is seeking other bilateral/regional trade agreements in the Pacific area. US goods and services have been competitive in New Zealand, though the then-strong US dollar created challenges for US exporters in 2001. The market-led economy offers many opportunities for US exporters and investors. Investment opportunities exist in chemicals, food preparation, finance, tourism, and forest products, as well as in franchising. ASUS Eee PC 701 CPU Fan The best sales prospects are for medical equipment, information technology, and consumer goods. On the agricultural side, the best prospects are for fresh fruit, snack foods, specialised grocery items (e.g. organic foods), and soybean meal. A number of US companies have subsidiary branches in New Zealand. Many operate through local agents, with some joint venture associations.Compaq Presario CQ60-305sa CPU Fan The United States Chamber of Commerce is active in New Zealand, with a main office in Auckland and a branch committee in Wellington.However, as of the 2010s, China is now New Zealand's second-largest trading partner, behind Australia.On 17 June 2010, Xi Jinping, China's vice-president, travelled to Auckland, New Zealand for a three-day visit, along with more than 100 senior business leaders. HP 637607-001 CPU Fan New Zealand welcomes and encourages foreign investment without discrimination. The Overseas Investment Commission (OIC) must, however, consent to foreign investments that would control 25% or more of businesses or property worth more than NZ$50 million. Restrictions and approval requirements also apply to certain investments in land and in the commercial fishing industry. HP Pavilion dv7-3067nr CPU Fan In practice, OIC approval requirements have not hindered investment. OIC consent is based on a national interest determination, but no performance requirements are attached to foreign direct investment after consent is given. Full remittance of profits and capital is permitted through normal banking channels. This free investment by foreign capital has also been criticised. HP Pavilion dv5-1210ez CPU Fan Groups like Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) consider that New Zealand's economy is substantially overseas-owned, noting that direct ownership of New Zealand companies by foreign parties increased from $9.7 billion in 1989 to $83 billion in 2007 (an over 700% increase), while 41% of the New Zealand sharemarket valuation is now overseas-owned, compared to 19% in 1989. Compaq Presario CQ50-211nr CPU Fan Around 7% of all New Zealand agriculturally productive land is also foreign-owned. CAFCA considers that the effect of such takeovers has generally been negative in terms of jobs and wages. Prior to the economic shocks which occurred upon Britain's joining the EEC in the 1970s and closing as a primary New Zealand export market, measured unemployment in New Zealand was very low. HP G56-114SA CPU Fan In 1959 and 1960, for example, the country was officially at full employment.^[37] One Labour party representative recently joked in a speech that the Prime Minister of the day knew the name of every unemployed person.^[38] Between 1985 and 2012, New Zealand's unemployment rate averaged 6.29%. After the stock market crash of 1989, unemployment began to rise reaching an all-time high of 11.20% in September 1991.^[39] SONY Vaio VGN-CR21Z/N CPU Fan By 2007, it had dropped again and the rate stood at 3.5% (December 2007), its lowest level since the current method of surveying began in 1986. This gave the country the 5th-best ranking in the OECD (with an OECD average at the time of 5.5%). The low numbers correlated with a robust economy and a large backlog of job positions at all levels.^[40] HP Pavilion dv7-4060eo CPU Fan Unemployment numbers are not always directly comparable between OECD nations, as they do not all keep labour market statistics in the same way. The percentage of the population employed also increased in recent years, to 68.8% of all inhabitants, with full-time jobs increasing slightly, and part-time occupations decreasing in turn. Toshiba Satellite M70-252 CPU Fan The increase in the working population percentage is attributed to increasing wages and higher costs of living moving more people into employment.^[40] The low unemployment also had some disadvantages, with many companies unable to fill jobs. From 2008, mainly as a result of the global financial crisis, unemployment numbers began to rise, with job losses especially high amongst women.^[ Toshiba Satellite A100-455 CPU Fan ^41] In the last quarter of 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 6.9% from a 13-year high. This now makes New Zealand the 14th lowest among developed nations, below Canada's 7.2% and above Israel's 6.7%. As of 2010, New Zealand had the second-lowest personal tax burden in the OECD, once all compulsory effects (such as superannuation and other mandatory deductions) were included in the tax-take. HP Pavilion dv5-2112br CPU Fan Only Mexico's citizens had a higher percentage-wise "take home" proportion of their salaries.^[43] There is an ongoing political debate between left- and right-leaning political parties as to whether further lowering taxes is appropriate. One of the most contentious questions is whether to adjust the relative tax burden of the highest-income earners.DELL BFB0505HA CPU Fan New Zealand is the highest-ranked (i.e. least corrupt) country on the Transparency International corruption perceptions index (CPI) of 2011.^[44] However, the validity of this index is disputed by those who investigate such matters. Adam Feeley, chief executive of the Serious Fraud Office says fraud is widespread in New Zealand and there are fundamental misconceptions about New Zealand's ranking as one of the world's least corrupt countries.^[45HP Pavilion dv6-3299en CPU Fan ^] International auditors, PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), agree. In 2011 PwC conducted a survey on Global Economic Crime which found that 50% of New Zealand organisations (both public and private) had experienced an economic crime in the previous 12 months. This gave New Zealand the 4th highest level of fraud out of the 78 countries surveyed. SONY Vaio VGN-NW11Z/T CPU Fan Agriculture in New Zealand is the largest sector of the tradable economy, contributing about two-thirds of exported goods in 2006-7.^[1] For the year ended March 2002, agricultural exports were valued at over $14.8 billion. The New Zealand agricultural sector is unique in being the only developed country to be totally exposed to the international markets since subsidies, tax concessions and price supports were removed in the 1980s.^[2] Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan Pastoral farming is the major land use but there are increases in land area devoted to horticulture.New Zealand is a member of the Cairns Group which is seeking to have free trade in agricultural goods.The government offered a number of subsidies during the 1970s to assist farmers after the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community^[3] and by the early 1980s government support provided some farmers with 40 percent of their income.^[4HP Pavilion dv7-4183sf CPU Fan ^] In 1984 the Labour government ended all farm subsidies,^[5] and by 1990 the agricultural industry became the most deregulated sector in New Zealand.^[6] To stay competitive in the heavily subsidised European and US markets New Zealand farmers had to increase the efficiency of their operations.^[7][8] Animal farming is pasture based, cows and sheep are rarely housed or fed large quantities of grain, with most farmers using grass based supplements such as hay and silage during feed shortages. HP Pavilion dv7-3190ev CPU Fan Pigs are usually kept indoors, either in gestation crates, farrowing crates, fattening pens, or group housing. In Northland, the major form of pastoral farming is beef cattle. In the Waikato and Taranaki areas, dairy cattle predominate. Through the rest of New Zealand, sheep farming is the major rural activity, with beef cattle farming in the hills and high country, and dairying increasing in Canterbury, Otago and Southland.^[10] HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan New Zealand is the world's eighth largest milk producer, with about 2.2% of world production.^[11] Total production was 1.3 billion kg of milk solids, and NZD 8.38 billion of dairy products were exported in the year ending 30 September 2007.^[12][13] There are approximately 4.2 million dairy milking cows in New Zealand, and 5.26 million dairy cattle in total at 30 June 2007, an increase from 3 million in 1982.^[10] HP G62-244CA CPU Fan In mid-2005, there were 12,786 dairy farms, with a total area of 2.1 million hectares.^[12] Traditional dairy production areas are the wetter areas of the country: Waikato, Taranaki, Southland, Northland, Horowhenua, Manawatu and Westland. Fonterra is the major processor of milk in New Zealand. It processes 94.8 percent of all milk solids from dairy farms.^[12] HP Pavilion dv7-3190ei CPU Fan Other large dairy companies are Tatua Co-operative Dairy Company,Westland Milk Products and Synlait. Livestock is predominately grass-fed, but hay and silage is used in the winter months to make up for slower pasture growth.^[10] There were 38.5 million sheep and 4.39 million beef cattle in New Zealand in June 2007. The number of sheep saw a substantial fall from the 70.3 million in 1982, HP G62-244CA CPU Fan while beef cattle numbers declined by about ten percent over the same period.^[10] In June 2006. 573,000 tonnes of sheep meat was produced in 2006-7, and 164,000 tonnes of clean wool. NZD 2.08 billion of lamb, NZD 283 million of mutton, and NZD 938 million of raw wool and wool products was exported in the year ending 30 September 2007. Production of beef and veal in 2006-7 was 623,000 tonnes, with NZD 1.64 billion in exports. ASUS A6000R CPU Fan There were 13,254 beef farms, 13,905 sheep farms and 1,614 mixed beef/sheep farms in 2005, with areas of 1.5 million hectares, 8.1 million hectares, and 655,000 hectares respectively.^[12][13][14] Deer farming has increased dramatically from a herd of 150,000 in 1982 to 1.59 million in 2006, with 1,617 deer farms occupying 218,000 hectares of land in 2005.^[12] NZD 252 million of venison was exported in the year ending 30 September 2007. HP Pavilion dv7-6011sg CPU Fan New Zealand is the largest exporter of farmed venison in the world.^[13] In the 1970s and 80s there was a huge industry carrying out live deer recovery from forested areas of New Zealand. The deer are a pest animal that has a negative impact on the biodiversity of New Zealand. The deer-farm stock was bred from the recovered wild animals. In 2005, there were 264 pig farms with a total area of 12,831 hectares. Toshiba Satellite L300D-01P CPU Fan There were also 855 mixed livestock farms and 633 other livestock farms, with areas of 178 and 18,000 hectares, respectively.^[12] The 50,000 tonnes of pork produced in 2007 was supplemented by 40,000 tonnes of imported pork products to meet domestic demand.^[15] 14.7 million chickens were raised for meat in 2007,^[16] with 145 tonnes of chicken meat produced.Compaq Presario CQ60-409CA CPU Fan No other poultry is raised in significant numbers in New Zealand. Approximately 3.1 million laying hens are kept, producing 900 million eggs in 2006.^[15] Goats are also farmed for meat, milk, and mohair, and to control weeds. Milling of New Zealand's extensive native forests was one of the earliest industries in the settlement of the country. The long, straight hardwood from the kauri was ideal for ship masts and spars. HP Mini 110-3010sf CPU Fan As the new colony was established, timber was the most common building material, and vast areas of native forest were cleared. Rimu, tōtara, matai, and miro were the favoured timbers. The Monterrey Pine, Pinus radiata was introduced to New Zealand in the 1850s.^[17] It thrived in the conditions, reaching maturity in 28 years, much faster than in its native California.Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4056 CPU Fan It was found to grow well in the infertile acidic soil of the volcanic plateau, where attempts at agriculture had failed. The Government initiated planting of exotic forests in 1899 at Whakarewarewa, near Rotorua. This was to address growing timber shortages as slow-growing native forests were exhausted.^[18] In the 1930s, vast areas of land were planted in Pinus radiata by relief workers. Toshiba Satellite M70-142 CPU Fan The largest tract was the 188,000-hectare Kāingaroa forest, the largest plantation forest in the world. As the major forests matured, processing industries such as the Kinleith Mill at Tokoroa and the Tasman Mill at Kawerau were established.Plantation forests of various sizes can now be found in all regions of New Zealand except Central Otago and Fiordland. DELL Inspiron E1505 CPU Fan In 2006 their total area was 1.8 million hectares, with 89% in Pinus radiata and 5% in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)^[19] Log harvesting in 2006 was 18.8 million m³, down from 22.5 million m³ in 2003. This is projected to rise as high as 30 million m³ as newer forests mature. The value of all forestry exports (logs, chips, sawn timber, panels and paper products) for the year ended 31 March 2006 was $NZ 3.62 billion. HP 532613-001 CPU Fan This is projected to rise to $4.65 billion by 2011. Australia accounts for just over 25% of export value, mostly paper products, followed by Japan, South Korea, China and the United States.^[19] Within the New Zealand economy, forestry accounts for approximately 4% of national GDP. On the global stage, the New Zealand forestry industry is a relatively small contributor in terms of production, accounting for 1% of global wood supply for industrial purposes. HP Envy 14-1080eo CPU Fan There are about 400 growers of stone fruit who utilise 3000 hectares of land, mostly in the Hawke's Bay and Otago regions. Three quarters of the fruit produced is consumed domestically. Peaches, nectarines and plums are produced for domestic consumption, and apricots and cherries, almost all from Otago, are exported.^[21] About 30 varieties of apples and pears are exported, ACER TravelMate 5230 CPU Fan