Best of Business

The Airports Association is defending itself after airlines blame their charges,  for spikes in airfares. 

An international airport group says New Zealand’s domestic airfares have shot up more quickly than any other country by 63-percent in six years. 

But Air New Zealand says its fares are only up 35-percent.

Association chief executive, Billie Moore told Ryan Bridge the biggest driver is air capacity reduction, so ...

The Reserve Bank recently disputed the idea that Covid-era money printing programme caused sky-high inflation, which cost the Government billions.

Staff at the bank have published new research that concludes the bank’s $55 billion Large-Scale Asset Purchase (LSAP) programme didn’t 'meaningfully' contribute to above-target inflation following the pandemic.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explained further.

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Spark's becoming the first New Zealand telco to block all child sexual abuse images made with artificial intelligence.

It already stops access to photo-realistic material made by AI, but this move will extend to images which have a cartoon or artistic style.

The website list comes from the Internet Watch Foundation which has seen a 400 percent increase in this type of material.

Spark Sustainability Director Leela Ashford says it bl...

Mooove over dairy and beef cows, for a new hybrid breed on the block.

Pāmu and Livestock Improvement Corporation have created a new cattle breed - called the Synegizer.

About 350 first-cross beef-on-dairy calves were born this year, and limited frozen insemination will available next spring.

Pāmu CEO Mark Leslie says dairy farmers won't use Synegizers for milking.

"These bulls will be used to go over maybe some of the cows they don...

Revenue in the hospitality sector's reached a new record high, but many operators are seeing profit margins reach a new record low. 

Restaurant Association data shows sales have risen 1.4% in the past year. 

Tourism regions like Nelson and Queenstown-Lakes are seeing strong growth but central Auckland and Wellington are still doing it tough. 

Association Chief Executive Marisa Bidois told Mike Hosking tourism is cont...

Air New Zealand's teamed up with Air Chathams on a new partnership for Whakatane.

It'll mean customers can book single-ticket trips that combine domestic flights on both airlines.

Checked-in baggage will be transferred directly to the final destination.

Air New Zealand's Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer, Mike Williams, explained what the partnership could mean for both airlines.

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Changes to lending restrictions are on the cards.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis is welcoming the Reserve Bank consulting with banks on easing loan to value restrictions from December.

The central bank's looking at increasing the new lending limit for first-home buyers and property investors.

Banking Association CEO Roger Beaumont says this is really good - and will give first-home buyers more flexibility.

"They're taking advantage...

The IRD is set to be cracking down harder on those who don't pay their taxes properly, and they've unveiled new measures for people who ignore correspondence.

The department will start taking money out of people's bank accounts if they owe over a certain amount - and they've recovered at least $17 million so far.

The IRD's Tony Morris says they aim to phone people at least twice before they start directly taking money out of accoun...

China’s hotels are taking a hit, as a struggling economy hurts domestic spending.  

China’s economy has been in decline for the past 4 years, and now budget hotels are having to slash their prices despite being full. 

Asia business correspondent Peter Lewis told Heather duPlessis-Allan that this is partly due to unemployment rates, with 1 in 5 Chinese people under the age of 24 being unemployed. 

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There's been concerns out of Parliament over Fonterra's future.

Peters is asking the dairy giant questions about its proposed nearly $4 billion dollar sale of brands like Anchor and Mainland to a French company.

He's laying out a number of questions, including how long the deal is, and if it's repeating mistakes from the past.

The Country's Hamish McKay explained further.

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Global dairy giant Nestle has withdrawn from the Dairy Methane Action Alliance, prompting speculation.

This follows other companies backing out of climate initiatives, with the Net Zero Banking Alliance confirming it was set to shut down earlier in the week.

Agribusiness expert Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says it's likely the Alliance didn't move fast enough for Nestle, and they're taking their support elsewhere.

"The Alliance has not wo...

The Reserve Bank's continuing to walk a fine line, with its move to cut the OCR 50-basis points to 2.5%. 

Economic data suggests inflation has now hit 3%. 

Finance Minister Nicola Willis is blaming rising rates, saying they’re having a disproportionate impact on overall inflation, whereas other sectors are stabilising. 

NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham we almost seem to be in a self-fulfilling n...

The biggest upshot of the latest OCR cut is likely to be the boost to consumer confidence. 

The Reserve Bank's slashed the cash rate by 50-basis-points to 2.5%. 

Major banks are responding by lowering floating and flexible rates after already lowering their fixed-term rates in recent days. 

ABC Business Sales Chief Executive Chris Small told Mike Hosking businesses will benefit more indirectly from increased consumer...

Good news - the Reserve Bank has finally done the thing many of us thought was necessary, and they've gone for a double cut in the OCR of 50 basis points.

That's the good news. The bad news is that they've been forced to do it because they didn't do it earlier, as in, they haven't cut as quickly as they should have.

I mean, think back to July when they actually chose not to cut at all, which was clearly a mistake at the time -...