currency moves

Bad news in currency moves

Devaluation of the New Zea land dollar, coupled with the quite extraordinary strengthen ing of the American dollar has been bad news for Pacific Is land countries hoping to ex pand export trade with Austra lia and New Zealand. Most Island countries value their money on baskets of currencies which include American dollars.

The recent extraordinary rise of the U.S. dollar against almost every other currency in the world, including Australian and New Zealand, had already made Island products more ex pensive in the Sydney, Mel bourne, Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington and other regional marketplaces where the Forum countries in particular are trying to carve out a place. New Zealand’s devaluation has ex acerbated that, not only by making Pacific products 20 per cent more expensive for New Zealanders, but also by lower ing the value of the Australian

dollar, especially in relation to U.S. money, by a few percen tage points

The new livery of Qantas, Australia’s national airline. The livery features a white fuselage with an enlarged red area sweeping down from the tailfin around the lower part of the fuselage. The flying kangaroo remains as a prominent feature, but has been refined to a slender, more stylised presentation, without the wings it has worn in the past.