Cost of living out of control

Strength of Kiwi dollar puts enormous pressure on expats earning from UK.

THE Kiwi dollar continues its outrageous climb making a Cuba Street flat white coffee cost £1.78, a nearly 20% increase since June.

Given that the cost of living in New Zealand was already high in comparison to the UK, the last few months have made English earnings shrink to record lows.

Those sending Kiwi dollars back home have enjoyed an unprecedented windfall, on the other hand.

It could get worse if interest rates in NZ were to rise. But earlier this week, the RBNZ left the cash rate unchanged at 2.5%.

"In contrast to current market pricing, we see no urgency to begin withdrawing monetary policy stimulus, and we expect to keep the OCR at the current level until the second half of 2010," said a statement from RBNZ.

Comments

[Domestic Executive]

I feel lucky for the kiwi to have played my way during our trip back to the UK. Mental note a good time to top up the UK bank account for those DDs still running.

[Sarah]

I'm hoping things stay the way they are! We're planning a visit to the UK next year and it will make a pleasant change for our Kiwi dollars to go a little further than usual. Also thinking of transferring some funds to our UK bank account.

[Alan]

Time to buy all those Xmas goodies from Amazon.co.uk on the low exchange rate!

[Avalon]

Making the most of it by buying lots of books from Amazon :) Ive saved about $200 on pressies so far!

I would just love to have a stash of cash to send back to the UK right now and have it sitting there till the rate goes back up - but no such luck.

[captive insurance companies]

Buying through the uk site...doesn't that mean you'll still get hit hard with large shipping costs, though? Is it still worth it?

[ClubPenguinCheats]

Mental note a good time to top up the UK bank account for those DDs still running.