New survey to gather info from businesses

The ASB has launched a new survey to get an indication from businesses about the New Zealand dollar and information about what drives their foreign currency hedging decisions.

Chief executive Nick Tuffley says the Kiwi Dollar Barometer will be a quarterly survey.

He says the survey shows businesses are shrugging off the current volatility in the Kiwi dollar and predicting a gradual lift in the currency by the end of March next year.

"If we look at the end of March next year, overall businesses are expecting that the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar will be back at 80, we ourselves see at being slightly higher than that, around 83."

Mr Tuffley says while businesses see some potential for further easing over the next few months, they expect the dollar to be around 77 US cents by the end of December.

Mr Tuffley says the Barometer has also revealed that more than three quarters of respondents plan to hedge their foreign exchange exposures over the next three months.

"It tends to be amongst importers nearly 80 percent that tend to hedge their foreign exchange over the next few months, and about two-thirds of exporters tend to do the same thing."

Nick Tuffley says 75 percent of businesses view their foreign exchange hedging as ‘successful’.

Photo: NZ Herald