Economics
Debt Monetization Creeps Closer by the Day in New Zealand
- RBNZ may end up owning 27% of government bonds by February
- Foreign ownership of NZ bonds has been dropping since 2015
Adrian Orr
Photographer: Mark Coote/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is on course to own more than a quarter of the nation’s debt by next February, even if it doesn’t start direct monetization, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Governor Adrian Orr said Tuesday he remains open minded about buying the nation’s debt directly from the state, as the central bank mulls more policy responses to tackle the coronavirus crisis. The RBNZ has said it would purchase NZ$33 billion ($20 billion) of government bonds over a year in secondary markets.