, these two new systems are critical infrastructure to our financial system, allowing every new zealander and major institutions to go about their daily lives settling their financial obligations with integrity and confidence. the project was the most complex technology switch that our payments and settlements group had ever undertaken. the scope was unprecedented as we simultaneously replaced both the country ’ s real time gross settlement ( rtgs ) and central security depository ( csd ) systems which is unheard of for a modern economy. no material issues arose during the go - live. in fact - weeks after the launch, covid hit putting enormous pressure on the economy and our markets, but we had confidence in the integrity of our newly - launched system, knowing that we had prepared our members, our staff, all our processes and technology well to handle unprecedented volumes with ease. transformation and change looking to the future now, and we are navigating through a period of change and transformation at the bank as we await the enactment of the new reserve bank of new zealand act – the legislation that underpins our purpose and how we operate. page 4 of 9 since 2018, we have been jointly working with the treasury to see the new reserve bank of new zealand bill introduced to parliament in july last year. we are incredibly excited with the foundational opportunity we have through the new legislation to fully modernise and empower new zealand ’ s central bank. the implementation of the new reserve bank act will enable us to be fit for purpose and to undertake the considerable transformation that will allow us to continue to effectively and consistently deliver on our mandate. other major legislative changes are also underway which will strengthen our prudential regulation and supervisory powers : the deposit takers act will modernise, strengthen, and unify our regulatory framework for all deposit - takers ; the review of the insurance ( prudential supervision ) act ( ipsa ). last year we have launched a dual consultation on the scope of the ipsa and associated insurer solvency standards ; the financial markets infrastructure bill will establish a new regulatory regime for fmis that will be jointly administered by the bank and the financial markets authority. our funding part of our transformation is ensuring that we have the adequate resources to meet our increasing responsibilities and the expectations of new zealanders. in the financial year 2019 / 20, we agreed a new funding agreement for the period 1 july 2020 to 30 june 2025 with the minister of finance. prior to this new funding agreement, we are pleased to report that we completed the

centre of christchurch have lost some production, generally from the impact on their workforce. the canterbury employers chamber of commerce estimates around 30 percent of businesses in christchurch were materially impacted by the february quake. however, we may be seeing the first signs of a stabilisation phase, with business confidence surveys recovering strongly. bis central bankers ’ speeches the official cash rate cut in march, along with government support programmes, looks like it has been helpful in stabilising confidence, and we would expect the deterioration in activity to be arrested by mid - 2011. in canterbury, activity can be expected to lift due to resumption of business activity, replacement spending and government support. but the canterbury economy will remain subdued due to wealth losses, weakness in tourism and construction, and obstacles including damage to infrastructure and capital. nonetheless, recovery in the canterbury economy, combined with the boost from the rugby world cup, will result in a marked pick - up pace of overall gdp growth. the reconstruction phase is expected to begin in earnest in 2012, with residential and nonresidential investment lifting growth sharply. spare capacity and labour will be absorbed rapidly, and inflation pressures will pick up from current low levels, prompting interest rates increases. the likely drivers of inflation from a reconstruction such as we will see in christchurch are the demand and supply of labour, materials and equipment, and the availability of finance. how government policy affects regulatory standards and the rebuild is also clearly important. how will the reserve bank deal with this? we are guided by our policy targets agreement ( pta ) with government that says, in the case of natural disasters, we should accommodate any initial inflation effects, such as higher rents or insurance premiums. however, we should respond to any medium - term generalised inflationary pressures that are likely to develop, as resources are devoted to reconstruction in canterbury. this means assessing the extent to which wages, construction costs and other prices rise nationally, as resources are drawn into the canterbury region. at the same time, monetary policy should also look to avoid any unnecessary instability in activity, the exchange rate and interest rates resulting from the earthquakes. this consideration was behind the decision to reduce the ocr in march so as to mitigate the near - term negative impact of the february earthquake. it is appropriate for monetary policy to remain supportive, given the continued downside risks to economic activity stemming from the canterbury earthquakes and more broad fragility in the new zealand economy. it is likely that the ocr remains on hold until these