New Zeland Fiscal Consolidation Unaffected By Lower Dairy Prices – FITCH

FXStreet (Mumbai) - Rating agency Fitch said today that a delay in achieving fiscal surplus by New Zealand government does not significantly affect the country’s credit profile. Yesterday, the government highlighted a steep fall in dairy prices by nearly 50 percent since February as a key factor that lead to significant declines in export revenues.

"The changes in the fiscal projections, as indicated in the Treasury's Half-Year Economic and Fiscal update (HYEFU), are relatively small, and the commitment to fiscal consolidation continues to strengthen the resilience of the credit profile," the agency said in a statement. As such, the new projections do not change the Positive Outlook on New Zealand's 'AA' Foreign Currency and 'AA+' Local Currency ratings, it added.