We are acutely aware that the health and vitality of the New Zealand economy depends to a huge degree on the health and vitality of the small and middle-sized businesses represented in this room. We live in “interesting times” You will recall the ancient Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times”. Sadly, these are “interesting times” and we all know why.
Just one week after the terrible events of 11 September, the Reserve Bank made an unscheduled and largely unexpected interest rate cut, from 5.75 per cent to 5.25 per cent. Within the Reserve Bank, we briefly debated whether I should hold a press conference to explain what we had done.