New Zealand dollar

New Zealand dollar
$100 $2
ISO 4217 Code	NZD
User(s)	New Zealand 5 territories  Cook Islands (New Zealand), alongside Cook Islands dollar  Niue (New Zealand)  Pitcairn Islands (UK) Ross Dependency (New Zealand) Tokelau (New Zealand)
Inflation	4.0% (3.4-4.8%)(New Zealand only)
Source	Reserve Bank of New Zealand, 29 September 2008
Pegged by	Cook Islands dollar at par
Subunit
1/100	cent
Symbol	$
cent	c
Nickname	kiwi
Coins	10c, 20c, 50c, $1, $2
Banknotes	$5, $10, $20, $50, $100
Central bank	Reserve Bank of New Zealand
Website	www.rbnz.govt.nz
Printer	Note Printing Australia (provides base polymer note material)
Website	www.noteprinting.com
Mint	New Zealand Mint
Website	www.newzealandmint.com

The New Zealand dollar (sign: $; code: NZD) is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands (see also Cook Islands dollar), Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents.

It is normally written with the dollar sign $, or NZ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is often informally known as the "Kiwi (dollar)", kiwi typically being associated with New Zealand, and the $1 coin depicts a kiwi. It is one of the 12 most-traded currencies in the world.

Contents 1 History 2 Coins 2.1 History 2.2 Current circulating coins 3 Banknotes 3.1 Current circulating banknotes 4 History of NZD foreign exchange rates 5 Current NZD exchange rates 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History

On 10 July 1967 the dollar replaced the New Zealand pound at a rate of 2 dollars = 1 pound when the country decimalised its currency. The NZ$ was initially pegged to the US dollar at a rate of US$1.39 = NZ$1.

This rate changed on 21 November of the same year to US$1.12 = NZ$1 after the devaluation of the British pound (see Bretton Woods system), although New Zealand devalued more than the UK.^[1]

In 1971, the US devalued its dollar relative to Gold, leading New Zealand to peg its dollar at a value of 1.216 USD with a 4.5% fluctuation range on 23 December, keeping the same gold value. From 9 July 1973 to 4 March 1985 the dollar's value was determined from a trade-weighted basket of currencies.

The NZD was floated on 4 March 1985 at the initial rate of 0.4444 USD. Since then the dollar's value has been determined by the financial markets, and has been in the range of about (0.39 to 0.82) USD.

The dollar's post-float minimum average daily value was 0.3922 USD on 22 November 2000, and it set a post-float maximum on 27 February 2008, reaching US$0.8213. Much of this medium-term variation in the exchange rate has been attributed to differences in interest rates.^{[citation needed]}

The New Zealand dollar's value is often strongly affected by currency trading,^{[citation needed]} and is among the 12 most traded currencies.^[2]

On 11 June 2007, the Reserve Bank sold an unknown amount of New Zealand dollars in an attempt to drive down its value. This is the first intervention in the markets by the Bank since the float in 1985.

Two suspected interventions followed, however they were not as successful as the first: the first appeared to be initially effective: the dollar dropping to approximately 0.7490 USD from near 0.7620 USD. Within a little more than a month, however, it had risen to new post-float highs, reaching 0.8103 USD on 23 July 2007.

Coins

History

In 1967 coins were introduced for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents. The 1 and 2 cent coins were bronze, with the other denominations cupro-nickel.^[3] The 5, 10 and 20 cents were the same size as the earlier equivalent 6 pence, 1 shilling and 1 florin. Until 1970 the 10 cent coin bore the additional legend "One Shilling". The obverse designs of all the coins featured Arnold Machin's portrait of Elizabeth II, with the legend ELIZABETH II NEW ZEALAND [date]. The reverse sides of coins introduced in 1967 did not follow the designs that were originally intended for them. Those modern art and sculpture themed designs were leaked to a newspaper and met a very negative public reaction. The final releases were given more conservative designs in line with public expectations.

In 1986, New Zealand adopted Raphael Maklouf's new portrait of the Queen on all its coins. The 1 and 2 cent coins were last minted for circulation in 1987, with collector coins being made for 1988. The coins were demonetised on 30 April 1990.^[3] The lack of 1 and 2 cent coins meant that cash transactions were normally rounded to the nearest 5 cents (10 cents as of 2006), a process known as Swedish rounding. Some larger retailers (notably one supermarket chain), in the interests of public relations, elected to round the total price down, so that $4.99 became $4.95 instead of $5.00. Alternatively, many retailers rounded all their prices to the nearest 5 cents to avoid the issue entirely, so a New Zealand shopper often encountered products for sale at prices like $4.95.

On 11 February 1991, aluminium-bronze 1 and 2 dollar coins were introduced to replace existing $1 and $2 notes.^[3] In 1999, Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait of the Queen was introduced and the legend rearranged to read NEW ZEALAND ELIZABETH II.

On 11 November 2004 the Reserve Bank announced that it proposed to take the 5 cent coin out of circulation and to make the existing 50, 20 and 10 cent coins smaller and use plated steel to make them lighter. After a three-month public submission period that ended on 4 February]] 2005, the Reserve Bank announced on 31 March that it would go ahead with the proposed changes. The changeover period started on 31 July 2006, with the old coins usable until 31 October 2006.^[3] The older 50, 20, 10 and 5 cent pieces are now no longer legal tender, but are still redeemable at the Reserve Bank. Prior to the change over these coins were similar, save for the legend and reverse artwork, to international (mainly Commonwealth) coins of the same British-derived sizes, which led to coins from other currencies, particularly older coins, being accepted by vending machines and many retailers.

Current circulating coins

Image			Value	Technical Parameters				Description			Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse	Edge		Diameter	Thickness	Mass	Composition	Edge	Obverse	Reverse
			10c	20.50 mm	1.58 mm	3.30 g	Copper-plated steel	Plain	Queen Elizabeth II	A Māori koruru, or carved head.	31 July 2006
			20c	21.75 mm	1.56 mm	4.00 g	Nickel-plated steel	"Spanish Flower"	Queen Elizabeth II	Māori carving of Pukaki, a chief of the Ngati Whakaue iwi[4]	31 July 2006
			50c	24.75 mm	1.70 mm	5.00 g		Plain		HM Bark Endeavour and Mount Taranaki
			$1	23.00 mm	2.74 mm	8 g	Aluminium bronze	Intermittent milling	Queen Elizabeth II	Kiwi and Silver Fern	11 February 1991
			$2	26.50 mm	2.70 mm	10 g		Grooved		Kotuku (Great Egret)
These images are to scale at 2.5 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the coin specification table.

Banknotes

In 1967, notes were introduced by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $100. $50 notes were added in 1983, and $1 and $2 notes were discontinued in 1991. The first two series of notes (1967-81 and 1981-92) differed only in the portrait of the Queen on the obverse. The reverses all depicted native birds and plants.

A new series of notes was introduced from 1992. Except for the $20 note, the portrait of the Queen was dropped. However, when held up to the light an image of the Queen is visible on all notes.

Current circulating banknotes

Image		Value	Dimensions	Main Colour	Description			Date of issue
Obverse	Reverse				Obverse	Reverse	Watermark
		$5	135 mm × 66 mm	Orange	Sir Edmund Hillary Aoraki/Mount Cook	Hoiho (Yellow-eyed Penguin) Campbell Island scene	Queen Elizabeth II	1999
		$10	140 mm × 68 mm	Blue	Kate Sheppard White camellia flowers	Whio (Blue Duck) River scene
		$20	145 mm × 70 mm	Green	Queen Elizabeth II New Zealand Parliament Buildings	Karearea (New Zealand falcon) New Zealand alpine scene
		$50	150 mm × 72 mm	Purple	Sir Apirana Ngata Porourangi Meeting House	Kōkako (Blue wattled crow) Conifer broadleaf forest scene
		$100	155 mm × 74 mm	Red	Lord Rutherford of Nelson Nobel Prize medal	Mohua (Yellowhead) Beech forest scene
These images are to scale at 0.7 pixels per millimetre. For table standards, see the banknote specification table.

History of NZD foreign exchange rates

With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, both Australia and NZ converted the mostly-fixed foreign exchange regimes to a moving peg against the US dollar.

In September 1974, Australia moved to a peg against a basket of currencies called the trade weighted index (TWI) in an effort to reduce fluctuations associated with its peg to the US dollar.

The peg to the TWI was changed to a moving peg in November 1976, causing the actual value of the peg to be periodically adjusted.

Since the late 1990s, and certainly since the end of the Cold War the US dollar has had less and less overall influence over the value of both the NZD and AUD against other currencies.

Current NZD exchange rates

From Yahoo! Finance:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD CNY
From XE.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD CNY
From OANDA.com:	AUD CAD CHF EUR GBP HKD JPY USD CNY

See also

• Economy of New Zealand

References

External links

• International economics - History of the regulation surrounding the NZ$ exchange rate
• National Bank of New Zealand - View the current exchange rate graphs of NZ$/inr
• Change for the Better - Information about changes to coins from 31 July 2006.
• Reserve bank of New Zealand- Money issuing Authority
• Historical New Zealand Trading bank notes - Old extremely rare banknotes of New Zealand
• New Zealand banknote history
• Legal and economic framework

Preceded by: New Zealand pound Reason: decimalisation Ratio: 2 dollars = 1 pound

Currency of New Zealand 10 July 1967 –

Succeeded by: Current

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