Reserve Bank issues Statement of Intent

5 July 2006

Reserve Bank issues Statement of Intent

The Reserve Bank has released its Statement of Intent(SOI) for 2006-2009 (www.rbnz.govt.nz/news/2006/2649987.html).

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said the SOI is the Bank's three-year forward-looking picture of Bank activities: "It highlights the major pieces of work we will be doing this year, as well as all the business as usual."

The SOI recognises increasing demands on the Bank's policy outputs in a changing economic environment. Dr Bollard said it was vital that the Bank's economic toolkit was adequate to the task of keeping up with the changing nature of our economy.

"In this SOI, we have set strategic priorities for further developing our inflation forecasting capability, including developing new models, and continuing to investigate how we can best maintain price stability while minimising the variability in output, interest rates and the exchange rate."

"The Bank will be implementing policies on banking regulatory issues, including outsourcing, the Basel II capital adequacy regime for banks, local incorporation, and bank-failure management. "We will also be contributing to a review of the supervision of the non-bank financial sector," Dr Bollard said.

A major project will be issuing new-look 'silver' coins from 31 July, with smaller and lighter 10 cent, 20 cent, and 50 cent coins, and the withdrawal of the 5 cent coin. "Logistically, this will be the biggest currency change since decimalisation in 1967 - a change that will deliver considerable savings to the New Zealand taxpayer."

Other priorities include a review of the structure of the Bank's balance sheet to ensure it best meets its statutory requirements; and upgrades to several back-office systems to enhance the Bank's ability to operate in the current demanding environment. There will be further investment to ensure operations can continue in the event of major disasters.

ENDS

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