A busy month with many highlights and interesting issues. The high lights I have picked this week are as follow with some personal observations;

• A ministerial report re-confirms the strong contribution made to NZ by the small to medium enterprises. This related to Immigration and in particular to the Long Term Business Visa applications, would in my view support a move to relax some of the policy requirements, for example the lowering of the English language requirement component of the policy. In my experience LTBV holders do not only operate their business, and may I ad on their own risk, in general they also bring funds and asets, knowledge and experience and perhaps more importantly, overseas networks to the New Zealand market. All these are a real benefit to New Zealand, now and in the future. In conclusion, lets have more LTBV applications through the lowering of some of the policy components.
• Foreigners (non-residents) giving birth in New Zealand have racked up milions of dollars in unpaid bills despite rules around maternity care being tightened in 2003. That only means one thing in my view; the "new" rules are not working and need to be re-assessed.
• The IAA appears to have been flooded with complaints, in other words, the ILACT seems to be working. The IAA also published a report evidencing that migrants are more satisfied with the services they receive from a licenced adviser. Please refer to the article.
• What about figures? How do you interpret them and where are they coming from? An example; The Dominion Post (21/09/09) states that migration remains strong while Radion NZ (21/09/09) states that migrant numbers are falling! Who is right here and where are those figures/enterpretations coming from?
• From the financial world, banks are reducing mortgage rates while the NZ dollar keeps on climbing. Good news for importers, not so good for exporters such as meat and milk companies, the main export commodity of NZ
• From a banker's point of view, the following is a contribution from the National Bank : Business confidence has taken another strong step forward. A net 49 percent expect better times ahead – levels not seen since 1999, as the post Asian crisis recovery took hold. Confidence was up across all sectors bar construction, but this sector still remains the most optimistic with a net 63 percent expecting better times ahead.

Firms’ own activity expectations nudged up a further 6 percentage points on last month. A net 32 percent expect better times ahead. The sectoral picture is somewhat mixed with retailing and manufacturing down marginally but agriculture, construction and services rising sharply. 

Employment intentions continue to recover — off precipitous lows. A net 2 percent expect to increase staff over the year ahead — the first positive reading in 18 months and snaps a record losing streak. 

Across other survey indicators, export intentions were down, but appear surprisingly resilient in the face of  the higher New Zealand dollar. Pricing intentions weakened, with a net 9  percent expecting to raise prices over the year ahead (previously +15).