I was surprised by the suggestion, until it was pointed out that the purchasing power of five cents in the late nineties was the same as the purchasing power of a half-penny when New Zealand converted to decimal currency in 1967 - and it never occurred to us to issue a half-cent coin at that time.
In other words, the purchasing power of New Zealand's money had declined by over 90 per cent over a period of just 30 years - despite inflation being quite low for the last 10 years of that period.