May 23, 2008

Today's NBR

We also encourage readers to go out and buy today's National Business Review.

There is excellent Budget coverage including the pointing out of one of Budget gems (see page 69 of the budget - penultimate bullet point - that Treasury isn't expecting any cut in the OCR until March 2009).

Tim Groser has an excellent piece on the role that food security concerns are having in smoothing the way for progress in trade liberalisation negotiations. Stuart McMillan also looks at food security but is concerned that this might lead to increased protectionism. Mike Moore still doesn't like subsidies (clearly he hasn't gotten his head around the Government's proposed ETS). Mike Peart suggests that the US Farm Bill veto is going to fail, thus imperilling the already tenuous hopes of concluding a WTO Round. But most interesting of all is an article out of Taipei suggesting that the new Government there is hopeful of pursuing an FTA with New Zealand "sooner rather than later".