CEO Forums

I received an invitation last night from Ken Stevens, Chairman of Export New Zealand, to attend a CEO Forum here in Tauranga on 24th March. It marks the beginning of quite a season of 'CEO' events.

The Tauranga Forum is designed to help New Zealand businesses share their challenges, learn from each other and prepare for a brighter future. It is co-sponsored by NZTE so I expect to see some familiar faces.

As I write this post, Allan Bollard has just announced a 0.5% reduction in the official OCR. That brings NZ rates down to 3%. One more fall maybe later this year, but I suspect this cycle is almost complete. I do not believe further rate cuts will be passed onto consumers or SME's in any meaningful way. So as a Forum, we will need to adjust our focus on other ways to stimulate the economy and our own businesses.

Effective management rather than Government aid should be the mantra of the day. And for the months ahead.