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Economic Weekly: Government signals intention to change NZ Superannuation

Prime Minister Bill English confirmed plans to change the eligibility criteria and start age for NZ Superannuation.

Dairy prices fell at the latest GlobalDairyTrade event, and we revised down our 2016/17 Milk Price forecast to $6/kgms.

Next week’s focus is on the US Federal Reserve, and the overwhelming majority of analysts expect a rate increase.

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Jane Turner

Senior Economist

Originally hailing from sunny Nelson, Jane moved to Auckland to join the ASB team in 2008.  As Senior Economist, Jane's main focus is co-ordinating the team’s macro-economic forecasts.  In this key role, Jane was thrilled by the team’s twice consecutive win of the Consensus Economics Forecast Accuracy award.   

During her decade-long career in economic forecasting, Jane has gained a thorough knowledge of the New Zealand economy.  Her current focus is on New Zealand GDP growth, including both manufacturing and the construction sectors.  She has spent time forecasting most sectors of the economy, including inflation, trade, housing, labour and financial markets.

Prior to joining ASB, Jane honed her macro-economic forecasting skills at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.  Jane is a qualified scarfie, attending Otago University and graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics with 1st class honours.  In 2014, she took a career break from ASB to travel the world and learn to snowboard.

Nathan Penny

Senior Rural Economist

Nathan's bold predictions and his ability to call it as he sees it sets him apart from other New Zealand rural economists.  In particular, his controversial, but ultimately successful $6.00/kg MS 2016/17 milk price forecast is case in point.

He has a natural talent to distil complex issues and translate them into user-friendly formats for diverse groups, including farmers and financial markets participants.  Nathan brings unique perspectives and thought leadership to the country's rural and broader export sectors.  

Nathan joined ASB as the Rural Economist in 2013, having cut his teeth at the New Zealand Treasury.  He hails from the Kapiti Coast and studied at Massey University where he graduated with a Master of Applied Economics.

Nathan's expertise lie in dairy and other commodity markets, trade economics and economic forecasting.  He's a leading GlobalDairyTrade auction and NZX dairy derivatives commentator and he also authors ASB's monthly rural publication, Farmshed Economics.  

He's a proud Hurricanes and Wellington Phoenix fan, and will gladly discuss at length the Hurricanes Super Rugby 2016 victory.

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