Alan Bollard's announcement that he will not seek a third term as Reserve Bank governor will trigger speculation both about who might succeed him and about possible changes to the policy targets agreement between Government and governor.

Chief Economist Dominick Stephens presents economic insights in this bite-sized weekly video. Retreating inflation saw the US Federal Reserve and the RBNZ to adopt more dovish stances.

The Weekly Overview is written by Tony Alexander. The views expressed are my own and do not purport to represent the views of the BNZ. The week has not been an active one with regard to new information on the state of the NZ economy. 

Chief Economist Dominick Stephens presents economic insights in this bite-sized weekly video. Inflation is falling thanks to the strong exchange rate. The Reserve Bank will be pretty comfortable and may delay OCR hikes, but not indefinitely.

The Weekly Overview is written by Tony Alexander. The views expressed are my own and do not purport to represent the views of the BNZ. Welcome to the first Weekly Overview for 2012 – sent from Hong Kong. Why am I here? Because the chances are at least 99.9% of people reading this are not – and that is New Zealand’s blind spot.

New Zealand's currency, which hit record levels against the US dollar last year, is slightly undervalued against the greenback this month, according to the latest Big Mac Index compiled by the Economist.