Blog

An offshore wind farm in the North Sea in the UK. Photo: 123RF / Ian Dyball Amid the challenges the energy sector is facing, offshore wind is one solution that could shore up future supply, according to Venture Taranaki. The regional development agency is currently hosting a delegation from the United Kingdom which wants to help unlock this country's offshore wind potential. Chairperson Kelvin Wright said with unusually low hydro-lake levels, high wholesale electricity prices and declining gas reserves, it was the right time to be thinking about offshore wind. The UK had the second-largest offshore wind market in the world, after China, and extensive experience in the elements necessary for making it a success, such as financing, local and international supply chain development, and reg...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis say the government's actions have help slow inflation, which led to the Reserve Bank's 25 basis point cash rate cut. The first reduction in the cash rates in more than four years, it has led commercial banks to start cutting their interest rates almost immediately. However, it has not been received well by some economists, who criticised it as a significant shift from RBNZ's previous statements. Willis said she was very confident when releasing the Budget her tax relief package had not added to inflation, due to advice she received from Treasury. "We owe to New Zealanders discipline and better value for the money we spend on their behalf ... every New Zealander who loses a job is a New Zealander that I worry about," she sa...

Photo: RNZ The Reserve Bank's decision to cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points makes it hard to figure out what to trust of what it says, one senior economist says. The bank cut the rate to 5.25 percent on Wednesday. While that was predicted by some economists, it is a significant change from the last full update from the bank in May, when it said its monetary policy committee had discussed the prospect of another interest rate increase - and it did not expect to cut until this time next year. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen previously said "heads should roll" if a cut happened this week, given the economy had progressed much as the Reserve Bank was expecting it to when it forecast no cut until 2025. He said he did not expect any accountability for the rapid change of vie...

Photo: RNZ The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points - the first reduction in more than four years. The central bank said price pressures were cooling and expected annual inflation to fall back to its 1 to 3 percent target band in the September quarter. Updated forecasts showed the cash rate falling to 4.9 percent by the end of the year - opening up the possibility for cuts in October and November. Before Wednesday's decision, financial markets had at one stage priced in a 75 percent chance of a 25 basis point rate cut, while economists were slightly tilted towards rates being held. In the statement, the RBNZ said consumer price inflation was easing. "Services inflation remains elevated but is also expected to continue to decline, both at home and abroad, in line...

An Auckland woman says she applied for a job she didn't mean to because the ad didn't reveal who was hiring. Source link

Louise Upston. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Benefit sanctions risk hurting families for whom it is often logistically more difficult to take up paid work, one social work expert says. People on the JobSeeker benefit are receiving warnings that their benefits are at risk of being cut if they do not keep up with their requirements, RNZ reported on Wednesday. The traffic light system for sanctions has taken effect and the system will be expanded next year. Ministry of Social Development data released last month showed there were 10,389 sanctions issued against beneficiaries in the June quarter, up 3630 or 53.7 percent compared to June 2023. Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson and Massey University lecturer Jane Lee said benefit rates had been set below a level that people needed to li...