"We were experiencing another outcome of financial globalisation: long-term rates in New Zealand have over the last decade started to become very closely correlated with US long rates. "In New Zealand the floating mortgage rate rose quickly. Households increasingly switched to cheaper fixed-rate mortgages.
But basically, it’s investment that is causing a particularly serious problem. Another factor is the relative weakness of its export capacity. In the German press, we read news every day about the success of SMEs in the export markets. In France, the industrial landscape centres around a small number of very large export companies.