The SME Stream

Nicola Willis will pick up a new role with a new name in the Economic Growth Portfolio - formerly the Economic Development Portfolio occupied by Melissa Lee. Willis told Francesca Rudkin she is planning to identify the barriers for small businesses, industry leaders and entrepreneurs.  The change is among a variety of shakeups to cabinet - Doctor Shane Reti has lost the health portfolio, Sime...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has made a series of changes to his cabinet for the new year. Melissa Lee has been demoted from his ministerial team, taking her economic development and ethnic communities portfolios off her. Lee’s economic development portfolio had morphed into economic growth, which has been given to Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “[Willis'] focus will be on leading...

Another sign of hope on the horizon for jobseekers.  The latest quarterly Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index has risen for the first time in over two years, off the back of a three-and-a-half-year low.  Public sector workers are more pessimistic than private sector workers about their earning prospects.  But there's growing confidence, across the board, about the a...

The banks are at it again.  ASB is slashing its rates this morning following a move by Westpac yesterday afternoon.  Many borrowers have been moving to floating or short-term fixed rates, anticipating further OCR cuts.  But latest forecasts show bank economists now expect the Reserve Bank to start hiking the OCR again next year.  Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told...

The strong US jobs report is out and raising questions about further interest rate cuts. A quarter of a million jobs were added to the market in December, causing the unemployment rate to drop to 4.1%. As employment rose stock prices fell as a result of such strong labour market data. Economist Brad Olsen joins the show to discuss how this will affect New Zealand, the Prime Ministers trip to the U...

Businesses are feeling optimistic they could be in for a better 2025.   The latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion from the Institute of Economic Research reveals a net 9% of firms are expecting general economic conditions to improve.   This is a jump from a net 4% feeling downbeat three months prior.  Infometrics’ Brad Olsen told Tim Beveridge that it’s definitely...

Job numbers have picked up slightly, but not everyone's benefiting.  Latest figures from Stats NZ show the number of filled jobs rose slightly in November, for the first time in eight months.  Service sector jobs rose but primary industries and goods industry jobs declined.  Infometrics’ Brad Olsen told Tim Beveridge that it’s a bit early for it to be fully sustainable,...

As business owners, you know how hard it is keeping up with your business, let alone the news. Join Wilhelmina Shrimpton each week as she gives you a rundown of the biggest stories that could impact on your business, so you can make informed decisions with expert advice.  In this weekly wrap, businesses across the country are feeling positive about the year ahead, what can we e...

Resident Economist at Opes Partners, Ed McKnight, joins Tim Beveridge with predictions for the property market in 2025.  LISTEN ABOVE The podcasts in the SME Stream contain general information only, not financial or professional advice. Any opinions expressed in the podcasts are not necessarily shared by BNZ, or its related entities. BNZ is not liable for any losses result...

There's uncertainty if the Reserve Bank will change tack following the revelation of New Zealand's deep recession.  Stats NZ figures out yesterday show GDP fell 1% in the three months to September.  It’s also revised the preceding quarter down to 1.1% contraction.  Former Reserve Bank Economist Michael Reddell says it did achieve its goal of bringing inflation under control.&n...

Over in the US, share prices have slumped after the US Federal Reserve hinted at a slower than expected pace for rate cuts in the new year. The Federal Reserve set its key lending rate in a target range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent - down a full percentage point since September. Fisher Funds expert Sam Dickie explains further. LISTEN ABOVE The podcasts in the SME Stream contain general informati...

Tonight on The Huddle, Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union and former Labour Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! The Government is looking to strengthen free speech at universities. Should universities be allowed to decline hosting controversial speakers? It's been a dire week for the economy - with today's GDP results reve...

People will have questions, after one of the country's worst quarterly GDP dips in decades. Stats NZ figures show New Zealand's gross domestic product crashed down one percent in the September quarter. It's put the country in the deepest recession since the Covid-driven slump in 2020.  Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce says the Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr, needs to speak up and expla...

This was a dire week for the economy - but experts say things can only go up from here. Stats NZ revealed that GDP was down 1 percent in the September quarter, and had been down 1.1 percent the previous quarter. This is the biggest drop since 1991, excluding the Covid-19 lockdowns. Despite the gloomy outlook, NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says this will likely be as bad as things ge...

As business owners, you know how hard it is keeping up with your business, let alone the news. Join Wilhelmina Shrimpton each week as she gives you a rundown of the biggest stories that could impact on your business, so you can make informed decisions with expert advice. In this weekly wrap, the government’s books are laid bare, the Kiwisaver shake-up that means new avenues for investment, t...

Other than a few big-swing failures, it’s been a bit of a holding pattern for consumer technologies this year, with many minor improvements but nothing truly revolutionary. This week, Peter and Ben are unpacking all that and more as they dive into the consumer products and services from 2024 they thought were good, bad, and just plain silly. Topics include the series of disappointments that...

If New Zealand was a company staring down the barrel of running at a loss for at least the next five years and finding itself needing to borrow $20 billion more than it thought it did just six months ago, it would be lights out, wouldn’t it?   And no amount of creative accounting could change that picture.   Essentially, that’s the state we find ourselves in after yesterday&r...

We're less than a week out from Christmas - and some key stocks could be well-placed for a Christmas charge-up. The 'Santa Rally' phenomenon refers to a strong share market over the last 5 trading sessions in December, and the first 2 trading sessions in the new year. Milford Asset Management's Stephanie Batchelor unpacks the phenomenon. LISTEN ABOVE  The podcasts in the SME Stream...

This week on Accidental Business Owners we talk about one of the hardest decisions we’ve made so far in business – which just happens to be shutting this channel down. 2024 has been such a massive year for Seamus, Di and I – and a few weeks ago we had a pretty intense end-of-year strategic advisory session. It got pretty real, pretty fast – and what we all realized was that...

The Government's devised a new measure for counting its coins, which gives it a more positive look. Treasury reports the Government now won't hit surplus before 2030 at the earliest, rather than 2027. But the Finance Minister says the official measure will no longer consider the $4.1 billion ACC deficit, putting the books in the black mid-2029.  Nicola Willis says the Government inherited a t...

The Government's half-year fiscal update paints a bleak economic picture for the years ahead.  It revealed the Government's debt path is steeper than previously anticipated - and surplus won't be reached until the end of the decade. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen explains how things got to this point - and how the Government can redirect the economy. LISTEN ABOVE The podcasts in t...

Grim readings from the Treasury's half year economic and fiscal update. The government's books will stay in the red until at least 2029, a year later than previously predicted. Although the government says it will aim to return to surplus a year earlier.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis is blaming the opposition for the bad result, saying in the past five years Labour added more than $100 bill...

There’s a view growth is coming, despite a grim outlook for the New Zealand economy.  The half year economic and fiscal update shows a surplus is not expected until at least 2029.  Cost savings which have led to job cuts and re-prioritisation in the public sector this year are set to continue.   Independent tax expert Geof Nightingale told Heather du Plessis-Allan there are gr...

The Finance Minister's painting a grim picture of the economy - signalling the Government will further cut into the Public Service.  Treasury's opened its books for the half-year economic and fiscal update - showing the expected surplus has been pushed out from 2027 to beyond 2030. Nicola Willis has adjusted the way the surplus is calculated, but says come Budget Day next year, she'll be forc...

[VIDEO EPISODE ON YOUTUBE & SPOTIFY].Amazon’s global head of data centres explains every detail of their design – including how they’re powered and why nuclear is being considered. The podcasts in the SME Stream contain general information only, not financial or professional advice. Any opinions expressed in the podcasts are not necessarily shared by BNZ,...