Best of BusinessDesk: Pattrick Smellie's top columns from 2024

Read the best of Pattrick Smellie's expert columns from 2024.

Sat, 04 Jan 2025

Budget 2025’s priority: don’t kill the recovery (First published Dec 16)For all the talk about austerity, the half-year fiscal and economic update is remarkable for its evidence that the Government has not made much of a dent in its spending track at all.Exhibit A is the forecast for “public consumption” – a proxy for the extent to which everything the Government funds is either adding to or subtracting from growth, known as the “fiscal impulse”.In the Budget in May, public consumption was forecast to r...

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Markets Market Close

NZ stocks retreat from record high, down 0.7%

The S&P/NZX 50 Index dropped 103.60 points, or 0.76%, to 13,467.26.

Jamie Gray 10 Oct 2025

Economy

Finance minister says yes, yes, yes to RBNZ transparency reform

Willis says she doesn't think system is broken, but needs incremental improvements.

Rebecca Howard and Dileepa Fonseka 10 Oct 2025

Finance minister says yes, yes, yes to RBNZ transparency reform

The Quiz Free

QuiznessDesk, Friday, Oct 10

Can you get them all correct without cheating?

The Quizmaster 10 Oct 2025

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