And we hit 80c

One starts to see why John Key was so good in his former job. When over a month ago he predicted the NZ$ which was hitting 75c would go and hit 80c, it was I thought a gutsy call.

Over the following weeks the gutsy call became a consensus and today a reality.

This graph stolen from the National Bank. It’s been pretty volatile today with a 50 point range and it broke 80c a bit before 6 pm.

This graph of the dollar since the float is pretty alarming. In just one year we’re gone up 20c which is huge.  The rate of growth is steeper than any other time since 1989.  And look at the very final part on the far right- that’s almost a bloody vertical line.

It’s a problem but it isn’t a case for panic.  I do wish NZ importers such as bookshops were reflecting the dollar in their prices.  If a book costs them US$10 then the cost to them has dropped this year from $16.70 to $12.50.  I’d like some of that back thank you very much.

The question is now at what level will it stabilise?  I haven’t seen anyone picking over 85c.