Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/205612 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
New Zealand Treasury Working Paper No. 10/09
Publisher: 
New Zealand Government, The Treasury, Wellington
Abstract: 
New Zealand real interest rates have on average over the past two decades been high relative to most other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This paper argues that New Zealand's relatively high interest rates are currently the outcome of domestic saving and investment imbalances, and are less due to a risk premium being imposed by foreign investors. That is, New Zealand's low rate of saving relative to investment make higher real interest rates necessary to maintain inflation within the target range in the face of higher domestic spending. Foreign inflows seek out the interest rate premium, rather than demand it as compensation for risk. Seeking out the higher yield, foreign capital flows into New Zealand and this puts upward pressure on the exchange rate. It is this relationship between the real exchange rate, exchange rate expectations and the real interest rate that has helped to cause New Zealand's interest rate to deviate from the "world" rate for most of the past two decades.
Subjects: 
Real interest rates
neutral interest rate
real exchange rates
Uncovered Interest Parity
internal balance
external balance
saving
JEL: 
E43
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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