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Photo: AFP / JEAN-MARC BARRERE New Zealand's increasingly indebted local and regional governments (LRGs) have eroded the overall creditworthiness of the Asia-Pacific region. A report by S&P Global Ratings said Australia and New Zealand's higher inward migration rates, compared with other countries in Asia-Pacific, was adding pressure to infrastructure deficits. "LRGs in New Zealand also face the additional burden because of weaker operating accounts and substantial increases in capital expenditure, including national water reforms and disaster-related reconstruction efforts," it said. "This infrastructure push is resulting in higher debt levels and interest costs, which is weighing on the liquidity coverages of several LRGs. "This follows our revision of the trend of the New Zealand ...

Photo: 123rf.com If you have looked for a house recently, you might have been told: You cannot build them for what you can buy them for at the moment. While it is common for new builds to have a price premium over existing houses, in part because they are often built to higher specifications and should need less maintenance, the premium is higher than normal at the moment - whether you are buying from a developer or trying to build on bare land yourself. Using data from Trade Me and CoreLogic, RNZ estimated that it would cost about $1.5 million to build a house in Auckland with the median floor area of 154sqm, and on the median section size of 600sqm, at the median sale price of the city's bare land. This assumes a build cost of $4000 per sqm. The median asking price on Trade Me is $986,...

By Gianina Schwanecke Photo: Supplied A plentiful supply of fresh, cheap vegetables has presented a new challenge for asparagus growers. Asparagus growers have faced a tough couple of years driven largely by a mismatch in supply and demand - last year saw many growers selling their crop at giveaway prices and even offering extra incentives, like the chance to win travel vouchers worth thousands of dollars. Asparagus Growers Council chairperson Cam Lewis said growers were excited to start harvesting after nine months of no asparagus, but many were also nervous. "There's some very cheap green veggies out there at the moment," he said. "So it would be pretty naive for us to think asparagus is going to be able to be sold at a large premium [compared] to your broccolis and everything else....

Photo: 123RF Have you ever received a suspicious email, call, or a text that felt like a scam? You are not alone - scam victims accounted for 22 percent of complaints to the Banking Ombudsman over the past year. A report from the banking watchdog has revealed it received word of almost 80 fraud and scam cases a month in the last 12 months. Phishing and data-gathering scams were the most common, followed by online shopping scams. Auckland resident Rita Regmi is among a growing group of New Zealanders to fall victim to a scam. In May, she received a call from someone claiming to be from her bank's fraud team. "They said something suspicious was happening with my account, and someone was trying to transfer money. "To verify my details, they asked for my first name, last name, date of birt...