Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9am in association with BNZ, including news that Greece's credit rating was downgraded overnight to Aa3 from Aa2 by Moody's after it revealed its budget deficit had blown out to 14.1% of GDP, a shocking number. The Greek 10 year bond yield surged to over 9% and Greece is now definitely having to beg for an aid package from the Eurozone and the IMF. The euro slumped and the New Zealand dollar rose to a 2 year high vs the euro of 53.5 euro cents. It is relatively strong versus the US dollar at 71.1 USc. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bill English has previewed the budget on May 20. He said that NZ$1.8 billion of government spending would be reprioritised from low quality spending to higher quality spending. He also announced a 2% limit on growth in discretionary spending from its current NZ$1.1 billion per year. English also foreshadowed tax reforms that would tilt the economy away from property investing towards investing. These include cuts in personal income taxes, a rise in GST and unspecified changes in the tax arrangements for property.
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