Bad dairy loans aren't getting worse, just reclassified: Orr

Wed, 04 Dec 2019

Non-performing dairy loans have risen sharply even with dairy prices at elevated levels because banks have reclassified them, not because the financial position of individual farmers has actually worsened, according to Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr."Commodity prices need to remain high, given the debt that's gone into the sector," Orr told Parliament's finance and expenditure committee.In the Reserve Bank's latest financial stability report published last week, it said although most dairy farms have been profitable for the past three seasons...

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