organisations were focused on ensuring that essential economic activity could continue. this involved the maintenance of payments systems, including the supply of additional cash. we also focused on ensuring that key financial institutions were able to continue operations. after immediate safety factors were addressed, concerns shifted to ensuring the stability of business and economic activity. during this period, we have been focused on the soundness of the financial system, including the financial health of key economic organisations. we have also focused on providing appropriate support for economic activity. over time, cera and other organisations ’ response to these events will shift again as economic conditions in canterbury and the economy more generally improve. as this occurs, the reserve bank ’ s focus will move away from the provision of emergency support, and towards ensuring that the degree of economic stimulus provided is appropriate for achieving our medium - term policy aims. uncertainty about the state of the economy following the earthquakes has been very high. over the past year, we have been engaged in a process of ongoing learning about the state of the economy following the earthquakes that has fed into our policy deliberations. this process will continue for an extended period, even as the economy continues to recover, although our focus will gradually shift. the earthquake and financial system soundness cash handling and payments systems one of our most pressing concerns immediately following the earthquakes was the maintenance of payments systems. in the aftermath of events such as natural disasters, there is strong demand for food, water, petrol and other necessities. and with damage to bis central bankers ’ speeches power and telecommunications systems, access to cash is a key concern. only two hours after the february earthquake the reserve bank started receiving orders from banks for more cash for delivery to christchurch. ensuring cash was available required us to work closely with banks and cash in transit companies to meet the spike in demand. this task was complicated by damage to roads that meant travel, where possible in christchurch, was taking about three times as long as normal. the public also needed information about where cash was available. to ensure this, bank staff used google maps to provide a live feed of operational and accessible atms. overall about $ 150 million of extra cash was sent to christchurch in the week of the earthquake, representing about $ 350 per resident. there was a big drop in electronic payments and increased demand for cash, initially in the form of $ 20 and $ 50 notes through the surviving atm machines. we learned a lot about atm configuration to ensure operability, and the internet was very useful to provide

. governments deliberately restricted economic and social activity to control the spread of covid - 19, and people acted to protect their personal health first and foremost. new zealand faced a material threat of experiencing a prolonged period of below - target consumer price inflation, and employment levels well below any estimate of a maximum sustainable level. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ christian hawkesby ( 2021, 21 september ). speech : a least regrets approach to uncertainty : hawks, doves and the white heron ( he kotuku ). retrieved from : https : / / www. rbnz. govt. nz / research - and - publications / speeches / 2021 / speech2021 - 09 - 21 the situation the committee needed to most avoid in early 2020 was one where inflation, economic activity and employment became persistently depressed. we were particularly concerned about the scarring impact on new zealand ’ s economic capability driven by a collapse in business investment and high unemployment becoming unnecessarily persistent. our path of least regrets was to move quickly to ease monetary conditions significantly and take steps to bolster cash flow and confidence to ride the initial wave of uncertainty. 2 the reserve bank entered this period of the covid - 19 pandemic with nominal interest rates near an effective lower bound – the point at which further official cash rate ( ocr ) reductions become ineffective in bringing forward expenditure. this was the case globally, following a long period of low and stable consumer price inflation. this meant that the committee, like many of our peer central banks, needed to supplement reductions in our preferred ocr policy tool with other forms of monetary easing that would further lower longer - term interest rates and generate aggregate demand. 3 fortunately for us, we had been preparing for the use of alternative monetary policy tools in the lead up to this unanticipated event. 4 figure 1 - covid - 19 additional spending / foregone revenue by country ( to october 2021 ) % gdp source : imf database of fiscal policy responses to covid - 19 ( to october 2021 ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ reserve bank of new zealand ( 2020, 30 march ). media release : mahi tahi : working together to ensure cash - flow and confidence. retrieved from : https : / / www. rbnz. govt. nz / news / 2020 / 03 / mahi - tahi - working - together - to - ensure - cash - flow - and - confidence adrian